Epic with a Side of Undercover
by KatieJill
Summary: Veronica left Neptune 6 years ago after her 1st year at Hearst. She abruptly cut contact with everyone in her life except for Wallace & her dad. She is now a hotshot FBI agent who has been drafted to go undercover at Pan High as a high school senior while she is investigating the disappearances of girls in the area. LoVe is back but not without some twists & curves along the way!
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first fan fiction, but I have read a dozen, and since I never quite got over the death of the greatest show on tv, Veronica Mars, I am going to keep the LoVe alive with a fan fiction that has a unique perspective on where the characters might have ended up in 2013.**

**I have an idea of exactly where this story is going, and would appreciate any and all feedback! **

**Disclaimer - I don't own the rights to any of these characters; clearly if I did, a VM movie would presently be in the works :(**

**Chapter 1**

"May I see your id?" the pimply faced teenage clerk asked as the petite blonde slid a bottle of Ketel 1 vodka across the counter of the desolate and dimly-lit liquor store.

Veronica smiled in spite of herself as she wordlessly slipped her Virginia state license out of her wallet. Thank goodness Matt wasn't here to witness this, as six hours ago this would've illustrated exactly why she was the perfect candidate on their team to go undercover as a high school senior, much to her chagrin. She got it though; even though she was a 25-year old professional, a federal agent at that, she didn't exactly look the part, especially today, with a Northface jacket covering her tailored dress shirt and FBI badge, and her hair styled in low, loose blonde pigtails.

"I hear this is good stuff," the kid indicated of her choice of vodkas as he deposited her bottle in a plastic bag.

"I'm celebrating," she offered with a conspiratory wink. The truth was, Veronica had no idea if the vodka was any good. She vaguely remembered the brand name as something Matt stocked in the bar in his apartment, and the price and location on the shelving suggested it was a suitable purchase. However, Veronica rarely drank, due to the fact that she secretly feared her mother Lianne's alcoholism was in her gene pool and didn't want to ever turn out like the hot mess that her mother still was. Veronica knew that Lianne had been in and out of rehab over the years from the customary background checks she ran on her every few months. She was remarried to a much younger guy named Tod, who was a major tool in Veronica's eyes as he only spelled his name with one D and ran a bar called Double D's. How's that for irony?

As Veronica pulled her sleek black Altima out of the parking lot, she dialed Matt's number. He answered on the third ring.

"Adams," he tersely informed.

"Hello, secret luvah," Veronica purred in return.

"Hey yourself," he answered back, as his voice dropped to a sexy whisper. She imagined him, tall, dark, and handsome, cell phone to his ear with that serious expression he too often wore. This man ran hot and cold, and it completely made her crazy. In every relationship she'd ever been in, and if Veronica was being honest, she only really could count three prior relationships, all of which had happened in high school and college, Veronica felt as though she had held most of the power. With Duncan, at least the second time around, Veronica had him eating out of the palm of her hand. Piz was, well, for lack of a better term, whipped. Logan challenged her constantly, but always knew the score – it was her way, or the highway. With Matt, it was different. He was her superior, her team lead, hence why she jested that he was her "secret" lover. He was seven years her senior, and their romance evolved out of working many close hours, staking out subjects, training together, and having each other's backs in critical situations. Not to mention all of those late nights in the office working on cases over Chinese take-out…

But because of the delicate situation of being colleagues and the strict "no relationships" policy on the force, Veronica and he tried to suppress their feelings for months. However, just like many other men, Matt was clearly not immune to Veronica's wiles and charms, despite his efforts to keep things businesslike and professional. They had been secretly dating now for about nine months, and Veronica was thrilled to have someone special in her life. She desperately missed her dad and Alicia and Wallace. Despite the fact that she had lived on the East coast for six years and could count on one hand the number of genuine friends she had nearby, she hadn't been back to Neptune even once. People that she had once considered her nearest and dearest, like Weevil, Mac, and Dick (well, that might have been a stretch of the term) had completely fallen off her radar. Wallace might have too, if he had not become her stepbrother three years ago. The truth was, Veronica Mars was a loner, much like she had been her junior year after her fall from glory, before she had found herself surrounded by close friends like Wallace and Mac, despite her indifference to companionship.

"Mars, where'd you go?"

Veronica snapped her attention back to the gruff voice of her boyfriend as well as the road in front of her.

"Sorry, babe, I started taking a little walk down memory lane."

"Ah, prepping yourself mentally for the big case? Can't wait to see what little numbers you'll pull out of your closet for going back to high school. I'm kind of disappointed these disappearances weren't happening at an all-girls Catholic academy, as I'm partial to plaid skirts and knee-high socks."

"Gross, old man! But, truthfully, you're not all that far off from what I wore in my high school days. Nobody rocked a short skirt and combat boots quite like Veronica Mars."

Matt let out a low whistle, "I bet."

_Six hours earlier…_

_"So, we're looking at a string of disappearances of young girls ranging in the ages of fourteen and seventeen in Pan, California. Now what makes this case rather interesting is that there is reason to believe that the disappearances are linked to human trafficking…"_

_Veronica was having a hard time focusing on the details with the sexy way that Matt was looking out at the team, carefully avoiding letting his gaze linger on Veronica for too long. She barely registered the fact that he had mentioned Pan, which was only a town over from her old stomping grounds of Neptune. But the mention came back up in her semi-conscious state, as she had recalled her dad mentioning that several girls from Pan High School had gone missing over the course of the school year._

_Matt returned to his seat at the head of the long mahogany table, kitty corner from her seat. "We're looking to send someone in to pose as a high school student." Veronica felt her hair stand up on the back of her neck with Matt's proximity to her, but lightened the mood by quickly putting her tiny forefinger to her nose and muttering, "Not it."_

_There were a smattering of nervous chuckles around the table, but Veronica's light-hearted mood was splintered as she felt a sharp kick under the table. _

_"Let's break for ten," Matt said abruptly. Everyone, Veronica included, jumped up to hit up the water cooler and bathroom before returning. But those plans weren't what Agent Adams had in mind; she felt him follow her out of the meeting room, and then guide her by the elbow from behind into his office. She stepped in with a sigh, as he pushed the heavy door close behind her. _

_"Mars, seriously?"_

_"What?" she asked with a feigned look of surprise. _

_"You know exactly what I'm talking about. You're the only logical field agent for the undercover job. Who's gonna do it? Bob? He looked forty-five even when he was in high school! Nancy? She's six months pregnant right now! She'd be going into labor in the Pan High bathroom on prom night." Veronica winced at the thought, not for the reason Matt would assume, but because it sounded a little too close to the story of her mother's friend, Mary, who had gotten knocked up by Mr. Moorehead, a teacher and former Neptune High principal, resulting in the infamous prom baby scandal. As a result of her high school sleuthing skills, Veronica had uncovered the true parentage of Trina Echolls, her high school boyfriend's half sister. _

_Veronica adopted a steely gaze that matched Matt's and remained quiet for a second. "How about you?" she retorted._

_"Me?" he snarled back indignantly._

_"Well, Agent Adams, I reckon you'd look mighty fine in a varsity lettermen's jacket," Veronica drawled in an affected Southern accent._

_"Be serious for half a second here, Mars. You look the part. You could blend easily in Pan High School."_

_Veronica self-consciously looked down at her small bust and then pointedly back up at her boyfriend. He stared her down, not even cracking a smile, but decided to try another tactic._

_"It's certainly not an insult to say that you still have a youthful appearance. And, you are familiar with the area and the school, which makes you a perfect candidate for the job."_

_"Yeah, I know, because I actually did a little recon work there back in the day…" Veronica trailed off, remembering when she had posed as a high school student named Betty while trying to unearth the disappearance of her own alma mater's mascot, Polly the Parrot. She had rather liked Pan High because of the lack of apparent cliques like the 09ers of Neptune and was mildly disappointed to hear that Neptune's propensity for mayhem had now worked its way over to Pan. "See, my cover is already blown."_

_"C'mon, Veronica," he pleaded quietly. She knew at that moment he had her right where he wanted her. He reserved calling her by her first name for when they were alone and intimate, outside of the confines of the workplace, but it made her heart skip a beat, and she knew he was wearing down her resistance. "You know that it's been nearly ten years since you set foot in Pan High, and probably at least six since you've been in the state of California. You have been saying that you miss your father, and I would really like to be able to shake the hand of the man who raised a helluva good federal agent."_

_Oh so that's the route he's going? This is all for me? Actually, it was kind of sweet. But she still had reservations. Going back anywhere near Neptune scared the shit out of her, considering how she had left the place six years ago…_

_Six years ago, she had returned from her internship in Virginia in mid-August. Piz wasn't due back until a week before school started. Her dad was supposed to pick her up from the airport, but at the last minute had gotten a call from Cliff which had whisked him off to New Mexico to tail a bail-jumper. When her flight landed, she had a new voicemail instructing her to call a cab to bring her home. She was disappointed, but considering that her stunt with the Castle and Jake Kane had cost her dad the election for sheriff to Vinnie Van Lowe, she knew he was determined to keep food on the table by throwing himself full force back into his PI business. And bail jumpers equaled groceries in their fridge in their tiny apartment. What she didn't expect to see was the lanky swagger of her ex, Logan Echolls, ambling toward her in the airport. He was tan and relaxed looking with a messenger bag slung over his shoulder, but his dark brown eyes belied the anxiety he had about seeing her after they had ended so badly last spring. Few words passed between them, but he offered her a ride home, and she was too exhausted to restate the fact that she still meant what she'd said before leaving – she needed space from him – as reluctantly accepted his offer._

_They chatted as casual acquaintances about their respective summers, and the short ride saved them from having to make much more than awkward small-talk. As they pulled up to her apartment complex, Logan jumped out of his banana-yellow Xterra before she could assure him that she didn't need him to help her tote her luggage across the lot. Why argue? He grabbed her luggage and familiarly walked her up to her apartment as she fumbled for her keys. _

_"Where's your dad?" he asked casually as she turned the key in the lock._

_"Chasing bail-jumpers, ya know, the story of his life." Veronica responded lamely._

_"Piz?"_

_"New York still," half a beat passed, "I guess." Why did I say it like that, Veronica wondered to herself, like she didn't care at all where her boyfriend was. Logan's coffee brown eyes seemed to search into her soul, also looking for the underlying meaning of her apathy toward Piz's absence._

_The lights in the apartment never made it on. Her luggage never got unpacked that night. Because the second the door shut, she found herself scooped up into Logan's arms, his hands lifting her bottom and her legs quickly wrapping around his waist as they became passionately entangled in one another. She was drawn to him like a high-powered magnet. He tongue found its way onto her mouth and before long they were both panting and in varying stages of disrobement. _

_Sex with Logan was so satisfying that typically after all she could do was doze off in the orgasm cocoon that he created. But when she woke up that morning in her own bed, with him nakedly and luxuriously wrapped around her petite frame, she couldn't breathe. She knew she had made a huge mistake. Clearly, she still loved Logan. She knew it, he knew it, and even Piz knew it on some level, because he never quite acted the same around her after Logan had slugged Gorya Sorokin, defending her honor, in the student union of Hearst College that spring. But loving Logan always meant sacrificing herself in some way. And loving Logan wasn't inherently wrong, but cheating was. She had learned that lesson from her mom. _

_As she watched Logan sleep peacefully, her nerves continued to boil over. She imagined that her life would continue in the same path as Lianne's. Lianne and Jake Kane had suffered from star-crossed lovers syndrome, and look where it had gotten them. Sure, they were crazy about one another years after their high school romance, despite the fact that both had taken spouses in the interim, but at what cost? Keith Mars was heartbroken due to his wife's infidelity. Celeste Kane was bitter and angry, and Veronica and Duncan had spent a half a year doing an awkward dance around one another, fearing their puppy love romance was tainted by incest._

_That was the exact moment when Veronica decided to transfer schools and make a clean break from her ties in Neptune. She couldn't deny her feelings for Logan, but she knew if she stayed, she'd never be able to break the pattern of hurting one another and hurting others. She didn't want to end up like her mother. _

_She talked with her dad about her decision when he returned home the next day. The process was surprisingly quick; she managed to avoid Logan like the plague for seven days, and the following Sunday she was back at the airport saying her goodbyes to Wallace and her dad for a second time that summer. She never explained herself to Mac or said her goodbyes to Logan. She didn't even have the decency to break up with Piz; she figured the news might be better broken to him by Wallace anyway. _

_For a few months, Wallace's emails kept her in the loop. But then Veronica made it clear to Wallace in no uncertain terms that she didn't want to hear about what everyone was up to. She never had to explain why; Wallace was intuitive to the fact that despite Veronica's hard exterior, it hurt too much to hear him mention her old crew. _

_"So what's it gonna be?" Matt asked her in a low voice, while staring at her intently with her dark probing eyes, as he splayed black and white 8x10 photos, likely yearbook pictures of the smiling young girls who were considered missing persons, across his desk._

_Veronica weighed out her options. "I still say it's way too risky to put me undercover in Pan. It's way too close to Neptune. My cover could be blown in a matter of days."_

_"That's doubtful, Mars, but if that's the way you feel, and I can't persuade you, I can pass the case Pamela's way. I am sure that her team would be only too eager to jump all over a potential human trafficking case."_

_Veronica bristled at the mention of Pamela Abrams. She was the lead of another team in her department, and she seemed to have prime picking of the high-profile cases. She, of course, would not be the undercover in the case. Pamela, with her sleek black asymmetrical bob, looked like she could grace the glossy pages of Vogue. She was worldly, professional, powerful, and confident in ways that Veronica never would be. Undoubtedly, she would be the one writing the playbook and pulling the marionette strings rather than getting her hands dirty. She was cutthroat with a side of superiority, and Veronica knew that Pamela would leap at the opportunity to use this case as a springboard for her career. I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't, Veronica realized, because Matt wasn't going to stick around if she wouldn't play ball in the big leagues._

_"Okay," she answered sullenly._

_"I knew you'd do it, babe." Matt finally let a smile play around his usual pout. "I promise I will be with you every step of the way."_

_Veronica couldn't quite bring herself to smile but she nodded and met Matt's admiring gaze. "Yeah, I know you've got my back, Adams."_

_Veronica dropped her gaze back down to the photos, and one in particular caught her eye. She was sure she'd never seen the girl, who looked to be about fourteen, in her life, yet her eyes haunted Veronica. She was Hispanic, with silky long waves fanned out around her shoulders. Her eyes were as black as coal, and her expression was serene and unguarded, almost as though she were unaware her picture was being taken and the photographer had captured the young girl deep in thought._

_"Who's this one?" Veronica asked, tapping the picture with her forefinger, still studying it for a clue of why this young girl seemed familiar._

_"Her name is -" Matt paused and lifted the print to read the back. "Ophelia Navarro."_


	2. Chapter 2

**As I said before, this is my first time writing a fan fiction piece, and I wasn't really sure that VM fans would love the direction that I was going. After a crazy Monday back at work, I found myself checking my email constantly, reacting like a giddy school girl who got a wink from her secret crush every time I saw a review, follow, or favorite from Fan Fiction readers J**

**I got into the series well after it had lived and died on live tv, so I am trying to envision that if I ever got my wish – A VM movie – where the story could pick up after some time had passed. The story is mapped out in my head, so I will try to post often and quickly! I promise lots of interesting twists and surprises to give you a new angle.**

**PS – If you have never tried penning your own fan fiction piece, I highly recommend it! It makes work bearable knowing I can escape to fiction after 8 hours!**

**Chapter 2**

Getting past the shock that she was investigating the disappearance of Eli Navarro's niece Ophelia had taken a solid twenty-four hours. Getting past the shock of her newly-dyed chestnut colored locks was taking slightly longer. Every time she caught her reflection in the mirror, she stopped and looked thoughtfully, curiously, at the young woman staring back at her. She studied herself, but she found herself wondering more than once: _Who am I? _

Matt had stared at her appreciatively when she'd retreated from the bathroom with the hair dye applicator bottle still in her hand, and he had mumbled something incoherently about it being like he was banging an entirely new girl, something she was pretty sure she didn't like the connotation of.

_Ophelia Navarro…_Veronica recalled the day that Weevil had treated little Ophelia, with her sweet smile and penchant for cotton candy, to Neptune High's Winter Carnival. That had been the same day Veronica had done a search and seizure of the seven year old's overstuffed backpack, looking for the missing senior class funds. Unlike her days moonlighting as a PI back in high school when, despite her unpopularity with her peers, she was everyone's "go-to" girl, investigating cases for the Bureau never hit that close to home. It was beyond unsettling.

Matt had fallen asleep that night in her bed. It was an infrequent occurrence that she typically liked to cherish, but she knew that it would also give her a chance to make a phone call that she had been putting off for a few days. She tiptoed out of bed, grabbed her cell phone, and headed out to the small balcony of her apartment to call Wallace, knowing that it was not nearly as late on his coast and appreciating the privacy her balcony would afford her.

Wallace picked up on the seventh ring.

"Wassup Supafly stepsista?" he greeted her with catching enthusiasm. Veronica smiled as she pictured his face, but before she could reply in kind, he hit her with a barrel of rapid-fire questions. "Say it ain't so! Is it true what I'm hearin'? Veronica Mars, in the flesh, back in my sandbox? What's the story, Vee? Are you really - " he broke into song "Going, going, back to, back to, Cali, Cali?"

"Shit," Veronic cursed under her breath. She had already talked with her dad earlier in the week. She knew there were certain protocols in the Bureau, and her dad was smart enough not to ask questions Veronica wasn't at liberty to answer, but still, there were few secrets between Keith Mars and his daughter. She couldn't very well be within twenty minutes of home without letting her dad know she would be in the area. He didn't exactly seem as thrilled about her return to the Neptune area, not that he ever doubted her judgment and expertise as a field agent. But although he never said as much, Veronica knew that he worried the emotional baggage that would surface after such an extensive length of time away from home.

And the timing was all wrong for a Mars family reunion. A few days prior, Keith and Alicia had booked a two-week long trip to Hawaii to celebrate their third wedding anniversary, and they would be departing a day before Veronica was scheduled to enroll in Pan High as Jennie Kempner. As for Wallace knowing so many details about her return, she attributed that to Alicia. _I guess I am going to have remind Dad to have a chat with Alicia about what the terms "classified" and "undercover" mean. _

"Listen here, stepbrother of mine, I want to again stress that this is a big case. I cannot, under any circumstances, discuss said case with you. I already have reservations about my involvement in the case, which is partially why I am calling you."

"What case?" Wallace half-shrieked, and Veronica had to laugh as she pictured his 'who, me?' face. "No, but seriously Vee, don't jump all over my mom for being promiscuous with her information. She's just a little psyched for the return of her prodigal stepdaughter."

"You'd think she'd exercise a little more restraint though; she lost her V-card to a life of crime investigation a looong time ago."

"All joking aside, can we aim for sentences that don't include both my mom and the phrase "V-card"? That's kinda gross. I still have nightmares about finding our parents cuddling on the couch in the dark watching rom-coms."

Veronica laughed. "You started it when you called her promiscuous! But seriously, I called for a reason," she chided.

"Yeah, and that's to see if I am available to drive down for a weekend so we can barbecue in the yard and cruise by our old haunts, like the Sac n Pac and good ol Neptune High."

"Hey now, you know I will pencil you in for a _discreet_ visit, if your firm can spare you for a weekend." Wallace now lived in Palo Alto, working for a hotshot engineering firm and living a life of debauchery as a bachelor.

"But that wasn't the real question, was it?"

"No," Veronica agreed begrudgingly. She was well aware of what Wallace's tone was insinuating. Since they had met on that fateful day junior year, when Veronica had cut Wallace down from the flag pole he had been duct-taped to wearing only his skivvies, Wallace had always known the score. She had done an act of kindness, and for that, he would spend his life repaying her in small favors without asking any questions. And because he loved her and knew that her heart was always in the right place, he generally was only too eager to be at her beck and call.

"Don't make me beg, Papa Bear."

"You want the dirt, huh?"

Veronica didn't answer, but that was exactly what was on her mind. She needed to know what her odds were of running into anyone who could potentially blow her cover.

"Man, in six years you never asked once, so what do you want, the abridged or unabridged version?"

"Wallace, you know how hard it is for me to ask and you know my reasons for leaving. If I would have stayed in Neptune, I would have been doomed to follow in the footsteps of my degenerate mother. I would have sacrificed the career I wanted because people couldn't handle the danger that goes along with my lifestyle. I already gave up my dreams of Stanford because I wanted to stay close to…" _Logan, I stayed for Logan_. But Veronica couldn't bring herself to say the words, so she glossed over it.

Logan had described their story as epic, but Veronica was more of a realist than a romantic. So, if she was being truthful, their relationship was more of a train wreck, with innocent bystanders suffering from the after effects of the destruction. She would've continued to date sweet, compassionate, push-overs like Piz, while always running back to Logan. It paralleled her parents' story a little too closely. She wasn't going to be Hurricane Lianne, especially when nice guys like Piz reminded her so much of her own father.

"I'm better off as a loner; I don't risk hurting anyone I truly care about that way."

"Well, from what my sources tell me, Piz ended up doing some cheesy radio broadcast on 97 LIVE back in Podunk, Oregon, where he came from. Parker is some soap star. I'm sure you've seen her on the _Audacious and the Attractive? _Or maybe it's _The Young and the Disenfranchised…"_

Veronica yawned loudly, willing Wallace to speed up the 'Where Are They Now' trip down memory lane.

"Mac's in my neck of the woods. She just launched a social networking site for adopted kids to safely search for and reconnect with their birth families."

"Wow, that's pretty amazing," Veronica lamented, wishing she hadn't included Mac in her 'Do Not Disturb' list.

"Yeah, she pretty much hates you. I am sure you can guess why. Abandonment issues, or something…"

"I completely deserve that."

"And, I heard Dick did a stint in jail for a stunt he pulled after college. If memory serves, he swarmed the field of a San Francisco 49ers game. Buck-ass necked and drunker than a freshman at a Pi Sigma Sigma kegger."

"Gross! Let me burn that mental image from my memory," Veronica laughed despite herself.

"Anyone else?"

"Nope, that's all I got."

"Hmmmm."

"You were hoping for an Echolls update? You do realize you are a federal agent, right, Vee? You've got way better connections than I do. You wanna unearth Logan Echolls, go all Big Brother on his ass and look him up in that crazy federal database."

The truth was, she had. A few times. Logan Echolls seemed to have fallen off the face of the earth after 2008. There were records that showed that he had transferred from Hearst to PepperdineUniversity in 2007, shortly after she'd left Neptune. But then her sources dried up. He hadn't voted, purchased a home, taken out a loan, or used a credit card in his name in more than three years. Being the son of two tortured, notorious celebrities meant that going AWOL wasn't exactly easy. But clearly if Duncan Kane could drop off the face of the earth, with a small child in tow, so could Logan Echolls. Which meant she probably shouldn't worry about seeing him in the next few weeks. Or ever again.

"So," Wallace interjected her reverie, "does this mean I can finally give Gia Goodman your address for the Neptune High reunion contact list? I've been trying to get her off my back for years! Doesn't that girl realize you have to give everyone at least ten years before trying to herd us all back together? Psshh! Who ever heard of seven year reunion?"


	3. Chapter 3

**So if you aren't loving Matt, are annoyed with Veronica for leaving the way she did, and wondering where on earth Logan is, that's a good thing! I am trying to build up some tension and suspense, but also know that I am a diehard LoVe fan too so it will be coming but not without drama!**

**I wholeheartedly appreciate the reviews; it gives me fuel to write every night…Don't tell my boss that during the all-staff meeting today I was obsessing about what would happen next. There may also be VM facts I mess up on (also, I am clearly not an FBI agent and live nowhere near Cali, so I am trying to be accurate but also know I will mess up from time to time), but I love the feedback!**

**Not sure if anyone else follows IamKristenBell on Twitter but she tweeted that any Vm fans should email veronicamarsmovie to demand their movie. I am going to again, and you should too!**

**Chapter 3**

Veronica looked at the clock on the scuffed up nightstand at the Camelot Motel. 6:37…an hour before she intended to leave for Pan High for her first day as Jennie Kempner. She turned the thick file folder over in her hand and took a deep breath. She had barely gotten any sleep last night, likely because being back at the Camelot brought back a barrage of memories of her forgotten youth and the first time she had been swept up with passion for an unlikely suitor, Logan Echolls. The Bureau would have foot the bill for a much nicer hotel, maybe even the Neptune Grand, but last week when Nancy had been finalizing the arrangements, she had found herself blurting out her preference to stay at the Camelot.

Although it had been eight years roughly since their first kiss on the balcony outside of the tawdry motel, Veronica felt like it had only happened eight seconds ago. For the past twelve hours, being in close proximity to the spot where it happened, she could think of nothing else. To say the kiss was unexpected was the understatement of the century. She couldn't stand Logan most of the time; in fact, her calling him the "obligatory psychotic jackass" of Neptune High might be considered catching her in a good mood. He had tormented her in the months after Lilly's death with taunts that ranged from her alcoholic mother to her failed relationship with DK and then escalated to busting out her headlights because he was pissed about a little prank involving planting a bong in his locker. But something about their relationship just before the kiss that literally rocked her world was moving closer to what it had been when they were the Fantastic Four.

When he showed up that day after school eight years ago to ensure her safety from Ben, an undercover ATF agent, she had secretly been more pleased with his loyalty and chivalry than she cared to admit. Which is why she had hesitantly leaned up to plant to a small gesture of her appreciation in the form of a peck on the lips. But although she had shaken her head, embarrassedly, brushing off the tenderness of her actions, she saw something spark in his eyes…She had awoken something deep inside of, and when he spun her around and passionately kissed her, she finally understood what it meant to go weak in the knees. That had never happened with Duncan, Troy, or Leo. The fact that she had responded to his kiss by pulling him in and surrendering to him entirely had been downright terrifying. It wasn't what was supposed to happen. She was supposed to end up with Duncan, not his best friend. She was supposed to support Logan through the sudden losses of his mother and his girlfriend, her best friend to boot, not fall in love with him. Yet that was exactly what had happened.

Just remembering the way that his probing, soft lips felt on hers made her body shudder. She could feel his hands pressing the small of her back, pushing her into his sweet embrace. She would never forget the way that kiss made her feel, no matter how much time and physical space she put between her and Logan. She suddenly felt like she had a fever and knew that if she looked in a mirror, her face would be the color of a deep scarlet sunset. Veronica had never felt more unsure of herself, and she knew it was more than just nerves about the case or her current relationship. _What the hell have I done? I walked away from my former life because I thought I was sparing others from my selfish tendencies and ultimatums. But, Logan had always protected me, even when he wasn't sure if he even liked me, let alone loved me. He could be dead for all I know, because I made the choice to cut all ties._

There was a light tap on the motel door. Veronica tossed the file on the bed and walked across the room to open the door. On the other side of the threshold stood Nancy, a mousy looking agent who was in her early forties and pregnant with baby number three. She looked a little frightened but waited politely to be invited in. Veronica said nothing but obliged her stepping aside and allowing her entrance. Veronica couldn't blame her for her apprehension. She fought the urge to say, "It's not you I'm pissed at, it's Agent Matthew Adams."

_4 days ago…_

_ "I know I don't need to remind everyone how serious of a direction this case may take. As you know, human trafficking generates billions of dollars of profit each year, and although we don't like to think that this type of crime happens in the USA, approximately 33% of victims are Americans. So, team, the plan is to plant Veronica in Pan as Jennie Kempner, a high school senior transferring from Buffalo, New York. What we know from the commonalities among the missing persons is that our victims range from fourteen to seventeen years of age. Five of the six victims were Latino. With no bodies, no obvious signs of struggle, no clear cut motives in relation to the disappearances, and no telltale patterns of serial killer, we are simply looking for more information that will lead us to where these girls are vanishing to without a trace. There does not appear to be a pattern in the physical appearance of our victims, aside from the fact that again, these girls are Latino and are petite, all falling between 5'1 and 5'6 and less than 130 pounds, meaning our perp, or perps, were clearly seeking out easy targets – girls who were alone, without obvious appearance of a cellular phone, and who appeared as though they would not put up much of a fight against the attacker. All six of the girls were reported missing between the hours of five and eleven pm, and the last location witnesses could place them was at Pan High School. So, it will be important for Veronica to involve herself in a range of after-curriculars to place her in the school after regular hours…"_

_ There were some intermittent questions. Would Veronica were a wire? Yes. Would Veronica try to ingratiate herself into any particular social circles? Not specifically, just gather as much information as possible from as many sources as possible, considering that people who may have pertinent information may not even realize it. Veronica knew she should be paying closer attention, but in her mind, she was trying to summon up a mental connection to Weevil. 'I'm sorry, Weevs, I feel like I let you down.' It was silly to think that way; she was Veronica Mars, a federal agent, not a superhero. But still, the Navarro family had been through a lot in the years she and Eli and formed a tentative friendship, and she knew that losing Ophelia would make it seem like they'd never be able to rise above the hopelessness, poverty, and despair that surrounded them. Veronica tried to remind herself that Ophelia was not lost, but she knew that the first forty-eight hours were critical, and if Matt was correct in thinking that these disappearances were related to a human trafficking ring, there was a good chance little Ophelia was gone forever._

_ Veronica found herself raising her hand without being fully conscious she was doing it._

_ "It's not school, Mars. Say what you need to say," Matt said, a little too gruffly for her liking._

_ She didn't let the embarrassment she felt touch her eyes. "I'm just wondering…We can place me in the playground, and I'll swing on the monkey bars for a while, but what's our end game?"_

_ Four blank stares swiveled toward her in slow motion. _

_ "I mean, if I'm there, and you're all listening in for leads into the disappearances, who is actually doing the real work of bringing these girls home?"_

_ Matt looked extremely uncomfortable, and for Matt that was hard, because if Veronica was being honest, he wore the expression of having a stick lodged up his ass pretty regularly._

_ "Well, I was getting to that." He cleared his throat, more for effect than for purpose. "Clearly, Veronica is our undercover, a very integral factor in our work of infiltrating what we believe to be a human trafficking ring."_

_ Inwardly, Veronica rolled her eyes. 'I so do not need someone blowing smoke up my ass about how integral my role is,' she thought to herself._

_ "Nancy will take care of all of the important paper trails – Veronica's, er, Jennie's enrollment, transportation, accommodations, etc. She will also be utilized as our "parent figure" if the need arises. We need to cover our bases entirely, as the school may require a guardian present for the enrollment process, not to mention someone for teachers to call if Veronica makes any trouble."_

_ Others on the team laughed lightly at Matt's joke, but Veronica was pretty sure it wasn't genuine. Matt wasn't really that funny, yet he commanded their good humor because of his position as lead._

_ "Tim and Bob will be our off-sight eyes and ears. They will have Veronica bugged at all times, and will be in constant communication with me regarding any leads into who is responsible for these missing girls. Speaking of that," Matt looked at his watch, "You guys are due in twenty minutes to meet with Neil to debrief about equipment. Any other questions?"_

_ Veronica raised her hand again, this time to purposely annoy her lover._

_ "Yes, Veronica?"_

_ "What about you?"_

_ Matt looked uncomfortably around the table. "I will be here. I'm staying back to work with Pamela Abrams to follow up on any leads, pending the information you bring in. Pamela and I-"_

_ "What the fuck?!" Shit, was that out loud?_

"Veronica, did you hear me? I was saying that, although I am sure you've read through the file I prepared, it's not necessary for you to bring anything from it with you today besides the class schedule that the guidance department from Pan High faxed over," Nancy said.

"Right, got it."

"If your wire's in place, we should probably head out. I'm going to drive you today, because it seems like the motherly thing to do," she added with a tight smile, "But we have secured a vehicle for you to use. It's nothing flashy, but you'll have your own wheels."

"Ok, Nance," Veronica said with an equally tense smile. She stood up, grabbing the class schedule, before turning around. "Just tell me the car isn't a LeBaron."


	4. Chapter 4

**To further explain a little bit about Veronica leaving the way she did and how it parallels her mother's love triangle with Keith Mars and Jake Kane…I think that Veronica knew that she and Logan had an intense relationship that always derailed but yet she always found herself getting back together with him because obviously she loved him deeply. What makes it similar to her mom's situation is that Lianne chose Keith because he was safe and stable; however, in the end, it appeared to me that she hooked up with Jake during her marriage, possibly multiple times. In season 3 Veronica also tries to make a go of a safe and stable (read boring, sorry) relationship with Piz, when clearly she still has unresolved feelings for Logan. She worries it will never really work, but she will always be drawn back to him, just as Lianne is drawn back to Jake Kane. To stop the cycle she leaves. For dramatic effect, she leaves without closure in any of her relationships, but I will definitely work those beloved characters back in!**

**Chapter 4**

Veronica walked into Pan High with more trepidation than she had nearly a decade ago when she had posed as Betty, trying to exchange Polly the Parrot for the beloved goat that Pan claimed as their mascot. _Something tells me that I won't be trying out for the pep squad this year, _as Veronica was feeling anything but peppy, considering the present situation of her relationship with Matt Adams. Being in high school again gave her the willies, although truthfully, despite being the target of vicious rumors, the breakup of her family unit, the bludgeoning of her best friend, getting dosed and subsequently raped by a sociopath, and then trapped in a freezer by her boyfriend's murderous father, her high school years had actually held some of her fondest memories.

"He _legit_ asked me if I wanted to get together tonight to 'study."

"OMG, STFU!"

"I know, right?"

"I was all, LOL, really? FML, ya know?"

"I am just SMH at his balls!"

Veronica feared, as she took in the conversation around her, that being back in high school might be a lot harder than she anticipated. High school never had so many acronyms back when she had attended. With all this code lingo, they could be referring to the crime element right in front of her, and she would have to spend half her time on Google just to try to decipher their language. She laughed as she thought of Bob and Tim intercepting the conversations unfolding around her.

Veronica had already checked in with guidance, and turned down the need for a tour by Mrs. Slezak, the seemingly hundred year old guidance counselor, for fear that she would die of exertion climbing multiple flights of stairs. Since she had roughly twenty minutes before she was due in homeroom, she decided to locate her locker and then sit down in the library to study her class schedule.

_Seriously, Mars? There are six missing girls, and I am worried about planning my route so I can get to classes on time? _Veronica ran through the list of classes on her schedule. AP English with Stone in 214, _Fun wow, they made me smart! _ Pre-Calculus with Lockardt on the third floor, then PE…_Yeah right, I wonder if the Aunt Flo might get me out of breaking a sweat? _Then, there was Government with Redmond in 112, lunch, study hall in the library, Chemistry and Lab in the science wing with Ericksson, and her day ended with Advanced Photography, again with Stone in 214.

_Somebody on this team likes me if they put me in an elective I actually would enjoy and excel in, _Veronica reasoned. But then she frowned, considering the fact that it was Nancy who had doctored her student records to submit to Pan, resulting in the classes listed on her schedule. Veronica's ego still smarted from the ultimate betrayal of Matt. He was the one who had pushed her into this case, only to banish her to high school so he could rub elbows with Pamela Abrams. Sure, he'd tried to smooth things over the night before she'd left for California by promising that he would pull her out of high school duty and put her into the action when they had enough information to proceed. But Veronica wouldn't bite. Matt had played her, and she was a firm believer in "fool me once, shame on you…fool me twice, shame on me."

Twenty minutes later Veronica entered 214 and trotted her cute little butt clad in skinny jeans and Uggs back to a nice cozy seat two rows up from the back of the disorderly classroom. Her "peers" were socializing, sitting on desks, doing their bizarre high school mating dances around one another. _How the hell do they have the energy to be flirting and gossiping in these early AM hours, yet not one of them possesses a Starbucks grande? _Veronica marveled.

A burly looking student, wearing a red flannel shirt with the sleeves cut to emphasize biceps only a mother could be proud of, loomed over her. She smiled up at him. He was her first potential new friend, and twenty-five year old undercover beggars couldn't be choosers.

"Hi, I'm Jennie! I just moved here from Buffalo," Veronica gushed.

"Hey, Jennie from Buffalo, you're in my seat."

"Excuse me?"

"Ahh haa, hush that fuss, _new kids_ move to the _front_ of the bus!" Billy Bob, as Veronica had so fondly named him, rapped, in the spirit of OutKast. Several kids looked over and began to snicker as Billy Bob's booming voice cut through the high school chatter.

_And people wondered why I carried a taser in high school? _Veronica mused. _Clearly for the obligatory psychotic jackasses. Every school has one._

Begrudgingly, Veronica got up and moved to a seat closer to the front – one of the only seats left now that students were starting to respond like Pavlov's dogs to the impending bell that would soon ring to signify the start of the period.

A Hispanic girl smiled up at her empathetically. "Matt's a total douche," she whispered.

Veronica felt her insides sink. She _knew_ Matt was a douche bag, but the real question was: how did this girl know that Matt was a douche bag? Luckily only a beat passed before Veronica realized Billy Bob and Matt were one in the same.

"No worries," the girl continued, "it's better to be in the front anyway. Mr. Stone's kind of a hottie," she added, smiling. "My name's Lily."

_Well, if there was ever a sign…_

"I'm Jennie," Veronica introduced herself, taking a second stab at "fitting in". "I just moved here from Buffalo-"

The bell rang, nearly jolting Veronica right out of her seat. She reached into her bag to grab a notebook so that she could busy herself with taking notes, hoping to evade any probing questions about her literary endeavors at her previous non-existent high school or awkward ice-breaker introductions her English teacher might have in mind for his new transfer student.

A tall, broad-shouldered figured, wearing a leather jacket, with a coffee in hand, entered the room.

"Morning, kiddies. I hope everyone is well-rested, because today we are going to dive into the scandalous life and times of the man-cougar, aka Willie Shakespeare."

Students quieted and there was a short lull before, "Hey, Matt, what the hell are you doing in my class again? Man, you're not in AP English! I'm pretty sure that fifth year seniors aren't even eligible for this course." Students snickered and Matt retreated with his tail between his legs.

"So the word on the streets is that a new student from Buffalo, New York, is joining us today…Miss Jennie Kempner?" The man in front of her searched the rows of students, looking right over her head.

Miss Jennie Kempner did not raise her hand. She did not stand up. She did not move a muscle, despite the fact that Lily was poking her while simultaneously trying to catch Mr. Stone's attention by waving like an epileptic. But Miss Jennie Kempner was picking her jaw up from the floor, where it had fallen when she had first heard that voice that cut through three layers of clothing. She was trying to stabilize her own breathing when her eyes finally made contact with the questioning liquid brown eyes of Mr. Stone, formerly known as Logan Echolls.

**So, some of you guessed where my mind was going, but I am still aiming for twists and turns! Your reviews give me the fuel to continue writing every night and to tighten up any holes, so please keep them up! Also, sorry for the shorter chapters, but I feel like I just have these natural stopping points (aka cliffhangers). Hoping for a snow day tomorrow so I can stay home and write all day!**


	5. Chapter 5

**The snow came; the snow day didn't…**

**Chapter 5**

Everything inside Veronica screamed, "Abort! Mission abort!", but her legs quaked like Jello Jigglers and she couldn't bring herself to move a muscle…Until Logan's coffee mug that read #1 English Teacher dropped to the floor and shattered into a million pieces, causing her and half the class to launch out of their seats like they had rockets strapped to their backs.

More than half the class (yet strangely all female) rushed to the aid of their #1 English Teacher, but Logan's eyes were still locked on Veronica/Jennie. She looked away quickly. _Shit, I wouldn't be surprised if one of these groupie students pulled a Keurig out of their backpack and offered to brew him another cup, _Veronica mused to herself.

Logan's eyes were hard to read. He didn't look enraged nor did he look buoyantly happy. He didn't even look shocked anymore, just entranced. She knew her cover was blown to bits. Brunette or not, you know your one true love no matter how much time and hair dye have passed. She knew because more times than she would like to admit over the past six years, she'd sworn she'd seen him too – surfing in the teal waters off Virginia Beach, or his nervous chuckle would ripple through a crowd; even his expressive mannerisms would sometimes manifest in mere acquaintances, heightening her awareness that he was never as far away as she'd like to think.

Veronica parted her lips slightly and pleaded with her eyes in a way that she knew only Logan would be able to read.

_Please, dear God, please don't blow my cover._

In what was probably an acute awareness that things were about to start becoming obvious and awkward, Logan broke his staring contest with her and smiled, in a way that might have looked normal to others but felt forced to Veronica. He welcomed her with a booming voice that dripped with sarcasm to a trained ear like Veronica's.

"Sorry, Jennie, I am not usually so dramatic. I guess the Shakespeare and caffeine must have me overexcited. Welcome to our humble learning establishment. I am sure you will feel like you are leaving Pan High with a _Baccalaureate degree_ rather than just a high school education."

_Ah, well played, Echolls, a well-deserved dig. Yet, he hasn't blown my cover. Which means I should probably assume he knows I am _under_cover._

"Class, shall we get on with the _Hamlet_?

For the next forty minutes, as members of the learning community read their assigned parts of the ill-fated Shakespearean tragedy, Veronica did her best to avoid the questioning eyes of her former lover. And although she had looked up twice to catch him studying her, for the most part, he chose to do the same, likely as not to arouse further suspicion of his adoring students.

"Man, there's no people like show people, and you people are the best show people I have seen in a while, bar none. The bell is about to ring, so I want to give you your assignment for tonight. For tomorrow, read Act 1.5 and be prepared tomorrow to discuss the first great climax."

Veronica felt a rosy hue overcome her skin when he said the word 'climax', bringing memories of the most intense lovemaking she'd ever experienced to the surface of her subconscious. Only Logan had ever been able to tease her to the brink and having her begging him for mercy. Logan looked intently at her, and for a fleeting second she wondered if he was also thinking naughty things.

"Wait a sec, Mr. Stone! You can't send us off into the harsh, cruel world without your inspirational message of the day!" a busty blonde that vaguely reminded Veronica of Madison Sinclair wailed, as though the world was in limbo without his zen-like wisdom.

"Ah, yes, Krystal. Here it is – words to live by: 'Accept - then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it... This will miraculously change your whole life.' – Eckhart Tolle."

Veronica knew his words had been predetermined as part of a lesson plan that had been created before she had walked back into his life so unexpectedly, yet the proverbial words held a meaning all of their own just for her, as did his gaze as he spoke them.

When the bell rang, students were reluctant to file out of the classroom and stopped to make conversation with Mr. Stone, making it difficult for Veronica to push her way out the door, which she felt was vital to her respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Logan stood near the front of class, looking like a caged animal. Clearly, he was hoping for a fire drill bell that would cause his students to flee for the emergency exits. But, because he clearly ranked right up there on the popularity scale with Facebook and Justin Bieber, that was not happening any time soon.

"Where's your next class?" Lily asked as she sidled up next to Veronica.

"Um, Pre-Calc upstairs," Veronica muttered with a meaningful sidelong glance to Logan, who was watching her every move.

"Great, I'll walk you; my locker's up there anyway," Lily smiled.

_Moments Later..._

"Hamlet makes me sad," Lily commented forlornly.

"Well, it is a tragedy, I guess," Veronica responded, although her mind was light years away.

"No, I know, but Mr. Stone could turn even a funeral into party. I guess it's that character Ophelia," Lily mused, leaving her thought open-ended.

At the mention of the one of the missing girls, Veronica felt her neck snap as she squared herself to meet the gaze of Lily. She shook her head, interested, as though to say, 'Yes, go on.'

"My cousin's name is, was-" Lily forged on, with a determined look, "-is named Ophelia. But she went missing back in March."

"Missing? Missing how?" Veronica asked, hoping her tone was neutral and matched that of a nosy adolescent girl.

"I dunno. People around here seem to think it's normal for a fourteen year old girl to just vanish. They say she probably ran off with an older guy, but I don't think so. I would have heard from her. We were – are – like sisters. It's hard because we grew up in the same house and since she was born, we've been inseparable. I used to tote her around like she was one of my dolls when we were kids. Her being gone makes me assume the worst because I really don't think she'd just up and leave without saying goodbye. I know my uncles and brothers and cousins can be a little overbearing, but we love each other and all look out for one another, ya know?"

Yeah, Veronica knew. She might be an only child, but a long time ago, she used to have friends. She hadn't thought of them lately at all. But Mac, Dick, Logan, Lilly, Duncan, Meg, Weevil, Jackie, and Wallace; she knew they had loved each other even when they hadn't always liked each other. They'd watched each other's backs over the years. She knew exactly how the Navarro clan must be feeling, and Veronica vowed right then and there she would do what she could to lessen Lily's pain by bringing Ophelia home safely, and to make things right with not only the Navarros, but everyone else whose life she had walked away from six years ago.


	6. Chapter 6

It was amazing to Veronica how she could make it through being shot at, held captive in a trunk, entombed in a freezer by a psychopath, having her head shaved by a campus rapist, but didn't think she could survive an entire Friday at Pan High. Math had been excruciating, as Nancy had supplied her with a different graphing calculator than the teacher was using and she was having a hard time keeping up. The teacher was a bully and kept insinuating it might be in her "best interests" to drop down to Senior Math Topics.

Gym class had been even more interesting; her hippie-dippy teacher Ms. Flowers, who had a musical voice and expressive gestures, was not of the mind that student-teacher physical contact was a no-no. The second Veronica had exited the locker room, after changing like a weirdo inside a bathroom stall, the teacher had embraced Veronica hard enough to feel the wire through her gym clothes. And then she had suggested that Veronica share with the class how the move from Buffalo to Pan felt in her "heart of hearts"…through an interpretative dance. She imagined Bob and Tom doubled over with laughter as they listened in.

Lunch and the rest of her classes hadn't been much better. She was supposed to gain inside info through socializing with her peers, but it was already mid-April. Seniors had no interest in making a new BFF; cliques had already been established long ago. Discussions revolved around who was going to prom with whom, what limo they were riding in and with whom, and the cost, color, location of the purchase of prom dresses. These students were apt to make _new _friends in college, but for right now they wanted to cherish the _old _ones they had.

Secretly, she had hoped that Logan was curious enough about her presence at Pan to send a note that would pull her out of her misery, aka High School Part II, but no such luck. She wondered if she threw an "Out of Order" sign up on the girls' bathroom door, would it be like sending up a smoke signal to him to come and meet her? Like in the old days when Veronica had considered the location her private office and Logan had considered it their number two make out spot, only second to the expansive backseat of his Xterra. It bothered her that he hadn't sought her out when clearly seeing each other had been such a shock to both their systems.

Something else bothered her about this whole undercover thing. If six students had gone missing from Neptune High, she was sure that there would be memorials all over the school. People would be talking about it in the hall in hushed tones, and if it were Neptune, somebody would've have approached her about the mystery by now and retained her services. Girls would be traveling in flocks, fearful of being the next victim. However, here no one seemed to be talking about these missing girls…at all. She wondered if Bob and Tim were thinking the same as they listened to her conversations throughout the day.

_Comedic fodder? Yes. Useful information for bringing down a human trafficking ring, methinks not._ She wondered if Pan High had more of a divide between the haves and the have nots than she had previously suspected. In Neptune, if the disappearances had affected the 09er crew, people would be up in arms, but perhaps if the missing students had been more of the PCHer variety, people would have fluffed it off, as it was expected for them to drop out of school unexpectedly or runaway from their broken and rundown homes in hopes of a brighter future elsewhere. She had hoped she would run into Lily throughout the day, but she hadn't seen her again so Veronica assumed any further conversation about Ophelia would have to wait until first period Monday.

After nearly six long hours, Veronica finally made it to ninth period, but she didn't feel like she had the energy to sit through another class with Mr. Stone as her teacher. Her heart thudded so hard she could feel her pulse reverberate through her ears. She wasn't sure the cafeteria pizza was a good choice, either, as it threatened to bubble back up from the depths of her digestive system. _And to think, at the start of the day, I was looking forward to this class. _When Veronica stepped into 214 a few minutes after the bell, she noticed that the class size was much smaller than the twenty plus students who had been in AP English. There were about twelve students, and Logan was in the corner, perched on a table, casually talking to two students. She observed him from a distance, noticing that like fine wine, he only seemed to get better with age. He was wearing a now slightly crumpled white dress shirt, the sleeves cuffed up just below his elbows, exposing well-toned forearms. Arms that used to embrace her own petite frame. His top button was undone, and his cobalt blue tie was loosened. He hadn't changed all that much – his hair was the same as in high school, minus the blond tips. He had the same easy smile, albeit slightly more facial hair around it, and expressive eyes. Eyes that were now keenly aware of her presence.

He stood and slowly walked toward her, and Veronica felt her breath catch.

"Welcome back, Jennie."

"Can you write me a pass for guidance?" Veronica blurted out, without returning the fake pleasantries.

"One day at Pan and you're already _running away_ back to Buffalo, or wherever it is you came from?" He laughed with zero trace of humor in his voice.

_And there, ladies and gentlemen, is dig number two._

"Don't you at least want to check out the darkroom?"

Veronica noticed the revolving door in the back corner of the room that was shaped like a film canister from a 32 millimeter camera. Near it hung several self-made or possibly student-created inspirational messages for the day:

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." – Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Our virtues and our failings are inseparable, like force and matter. When they separate, man is no more." – Nikola Tesla

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex…It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." – Albert Einstein

Logan followed her gaze. "Something catch your eye?"

"Yeah, the quote from Albert Einstein. People said he was eccentric, crazy even, but I think he was pretty intuitive, especially with that quote." Veronica hoped that Logan was following what she was saying and how it could be applied to their own crazy relationship. _I left _for_ you, not _because_ of you. _

Logan looked thoughtful for a fleeting second and then was all business. "Get me your student planner, and I'll write your hall pass for guidance in there."

"Mr. Stone, I need help with getting my film into the canister for development!" a cute redhead interrupted.

"Yeah, and I need you to help me crop my portrait!"

"And don't forget, I think we're out of Dektol," another reminded.

"Be right over!" he laughed. _Is he truly that oblivious to the fact that these girls are literally falling over one another to vie for his personal attention? He may not have followed in the footsteps of his famous movie star parents, but it didn't mean that he didn't have adoring fans. And when the hell did Logan Echolls become a master photographer? Does he even know his Dektol from his Stop bath?_

Veronica handed her planner over, eager to get the hell out of this classroom. She needed to get as far away from this school as possible and regroup for the weekend. She was doubting she would make it through the month let alone another day. She had been trained to survive in the cruelest and most torturous situations, in the rare circumstance that she was taken captive, but no one had prepared her for what would happen if she was trapped in a situation with an ex that she still had unresolved feelings for. Right now she would have gladly jumped at Chinese water torture over being in a room with Logan Echolls.

He slid the student planner back in her direction, and instead of the hall pass section 'To:' line reading 'guidance', scrawled in red pen in all caps was: _WHAT THE FUCK? _

_ He must be aware of the fact that I am wearing a wire because he could have blown my cover tens times over with his smart mouth and acerbic wit._

Veronica responded in the 'Time:' line _UNDERCOVER_ and _WEARING A WIRE, _and quickly slid the planner back_. _They continued a pleasant conversation about her previous high school and how she was enjoying her first few days in California, so as not to rouse the suspicion of others in the room, but the real conversation was happening through their written exchange.

_NO SHIT, SHERLOCK. THE MISSING GIRLS, I'M ASSUMING?_

Veronica read his note and looked up at him, her eyes flashing with annoyance. Ok, if Veronica was to read between the lines, it seemed apparent that Logan wasn't happy that she had crashed his perfect new life. He hadn't been pining away for Veronica all these years; she got it. Just like she had broken all contact, Logan obviously hadn't wanted to be found either, which is why, she was guessing, he was now using the surname Stone.

The next four words rocked her to the core. Profound? No. Earth shattering? Not really. _WE NEED TO TALK._

Veronica was unclear whether or not he was referring to the case or unfinished business between the two of them. She wasn't really sure how he proposed said discussion would happen, as it would be rather challenging, considering their audience both here in the classroom and under her sweater, via the wire. Not waiting for a response, Logan grabbed the planner back and scribbled a new pass to guidance. He got up without another word and walked over to the cute Lindsay Lohan look-alike to help her "stuff her film reel canister". Veronica shot daggers at them with her eyes, spun on her heel, and sprinted from the room. _And I thought high school was fucked up the first time around._


	7. Chapter 7

**I apologize for any trouble getting to the fifth and sixth chapters on Saturday. There was apparently a bug on the FanFiction site after I had written what I considered to be pretty intense chapters. I was awaiting some reviews but all I got was…crickets. I was made aware by some really diligent readers (thank you!) that my chapters were nowhere to be found. After some cursing, some panicking, and some frantic emailing to web support, I found that I wasn't the only person experiencing problems. Hope that doesn't happen again. Because things are about to get a lot more interesting…**

**Side note, I hope that you all know that I take your feedback to heart and it definitely influences what I write. I have an idea of where I am headed, but your thoughts help me to consider new directions. I am trying to create characters who are human and flawed, how I interpreted them from the series. (Sometimes I wanted to reach through my tv and grab Veronica and shake her for ever walking away from Logan, lol). I know I painted a harsh picture of V, but I also want to ensure that there is enough of a storyline to keep this story going for a while...I am having way too much fun writing it for it to be over too soon. **

**Chapter 7**

"The wire needs to go!" Veronica exclaimed as she busted into room 321 of the Camelot Motel to find Bob eating a peanut cream donut, which he nearly dropped with surprise at her unexpected arrival, and Tim picking his nose, discreetly.

_Serves them both right for leaving the door unlocked, _Veronica thought to herself.

"Vee, that's really not our call. Matt ordered the wire so we could contact him immediately if we heard anything juicy," Tim remarked.

"Yeah, and we heard a lot of juicy today!" Bob laughed. "I wish Matt would've put me in there. I was quite the ladies' man in high school."

"Bob, you weren't the ladies' man, you were the guy that hot chicks approached to buy them beer because you were sporting a full-blown moustache at fourteen."

Bob did his best to look wounded but ended up smiling because he loved how beneath Veronica's seemingly mean-spirited jabs, she was really a softie. "Sorry, kid, the wire stays. It's for your own safety really, anyway. Some kook tries to nab you and sell you into a life of slavery and prostitution, I take 'em down," he asserted with all sorts of bravado as he flexed his flabby biceps. The man had more body hair than King Kong.

"No, I know, Bob, and I appreciate it," Veronica responded, trying a new tact. "But, changing into those tiny little gym uniforms is a little tricky when you're wearing a wire. I am worried about blowing my cover." She knew she had Bob at "tiny little gym uniforms" by the way his eyes went all blank stare seizure and his mouth hung open, with the slightest trail of drool starting to form at the corners.

"Maybe you could put a bug inside a pen or something that I can keep on me, something that looks a little more teenage girl and a little less 'Married to the Mob'?" Veronica asked sweetly with shining eyes.

"Yeah, we could probably do that. Better check with Matt first. Don't wanna go over the head of boss man," Tim joked.

"Fuck Matt. If he was so worried about what was going on inside Pan High, he'd be here right now." With that, Veronica had said all she needed to, and walked out the door, slamming it a little harder than she'd intended to.

* * *

Later that evening after she'd watched a spectacular California sunset from the two inch part in the drapes of the large picture window in her room at the Camelot, Veronica decided to test out the new set of wheels Nancy had supplied her with as a congrats-for-making-it-through-your-first-day-of-high-school-for-the-second-time-around present. Actually, the wheels were anything but new; that would draw some unwanted attention from her classmates, as Pan didn't have all the razzle dazzle of 09er society. Her vehicle was a 1998 Pontiac Sunfire convertible. But Veronica had to admit, it was actually in really nice shape, with a candy apple red exterior and a peppy little engine.

Reminiscing, Veronica cruised past the Sac n Pac, Neptune High, the office where Mars Investigation used to rent space, as well as her old apartment complex in Neptune. Her dad had moved into Alicia's house shortly after Veronica had moved to Virginia to attend the FBIAcademy. He had also moved Mars Investigations into a new office park in a wealthier section of town to appeal to more upscale clients who could afford to pay more than his standard rate of $250 a day. She had tried to convince him that maybe he should hold onto the place, but he had kindly but firmly told her that she had given up her rights to object when she'd moved herself across the country, and if she was content with moving on from her past, she needed to allow him to do the same. As she continued her drive down memory lane, she was wistful to note that the coffee house where she used to work had been bought out by a trendier franchise. In six years, she had to admit, a lot about Neptune had changed, a little too much. It was crazy to expect time to stop because she had taken a hiatus from her life. Her favorite MoZella song played softly on the radio, like a theme song for the tumultuous feelings that accompanied her return to Neptune.

_"And I just can't stop. Lord, I can't stop myself. I can't stop. Lord, I can't stop myself, now…I'm losing sleep, over you. And I don't what I've got myself into. You just have something that I need. I can't put my finger on it. You can't put yours on me… "_

Veronica, as the song suggested, couldn't stop herself either. She knew she should be going over the case, or at the very least, catching up on the sleep she'd lost last night fantasizing about all the firsts in her relationship with Logan. But, when she'd gotten home after school, right after Nancy had served her up some Cheez-its and Capri Sun …not!, she couldn't resist looking up Logan yet again. It didn't take a government database to crack the case of the missing Logan Echolls. He was listed in the phonebook under L.A. Stone.

How the hell had he managed that to evade the media for three or more years? The paparazzi had had a love/hate relationship with Logan Echolls throughout his formative years. They _loved_ to splash pictures of Logan doing anything that would draw negative attention to the Echolls family name, and they _hated_ to let him have his peace, even if that meant a TMZ photographer occasionally ended up with a broken nose or smashed camera.

His address was listed 11997 Bluff Point Boulevard, and as Veronica pulled up to the street and quieted the engine, she took a minute to study the modest two story home with light blue siding and dark navy trim. It was certainly nothing like the palace he grew up in; in size it closer resembled the pool house at the back of his property, likely without the creepy hidden cameras.

Veronica knew she had to make her way up to the door soon, or risk looking like a creep, but her legs appeared to have stopped functioning sometime between her aimless joyriding and her ultimate destination. She needed to make sure that Logan wasn't going to blow everything just because he was mad at her over what had happened between the two of them so long ago. She hadn't wanted to take this case, and she certainly hadn't wanted to confront her past head-on, but now that she was in the present situation, she felt like she had to see it through, particularly for her old pal Weevil. That was one of the problems with befriending the head of a biker gang; you were always indebted to either clearing their name in connection to a heinous crime or finding one of their missing family members who may or may not have been sold into slavery.

Veronica stepped out of the car and ambled up towards the picturesque little house with blue painted shutters and neat but sparse landscaping. She knocked twice in quick succession on the front door. It was at that moment that it occurred to her that she had no idea exactly what she was going to say to the man on the other side of the door, and if she didn't have a scripted conversation planned in her head, it could lead to trouble…of the kissing variety. _Why is it that our relationship is always at a turning point when there is a _door_ involved? _Veronica wondered to herself as she waited.

She thought back to the night of Alterna-Prom when he'd drunkenly poured his heart out to her in a champagne flute. As Logan nursed a bottle of Dom Perignon, it worked through him like truth serum. Tiny bubbles of information had popped that night, bringing to the surface Logan's unresolved emotions for her – he had never really had deep feelings for Hannah, POP; he wasn't looking for a quick lay with the first bimbo that would drop her clothes and fall into his bed, POP; he was tortured because he had never gotten over her, POP; it was breaking his heart that summer was going to come and go in the blink of an eye and then they'd go their separate ways, POP. He claimed their story was epic, but the next morning when she'd come knocking at his door, what was epic was her attempt to tell him that she wanted to make an effort to see him over the summer in hopes of rekindling their relationship…it was epic alright, as in epic fail. Because behind that hotel suite door, he had spent the night in a drunken stupor with Kendall Casablancas. It was an end to what she had hoped would be a second beginning.

She also thought to the night when she'd come knocking at his hotel suite door at the Neptune Grand after her conversation with Piz about knowing the difference between who was "worth it" and who was "not" in the student union of Hearst. After the stark realization that Logan was worth it, she'd rushed back into his arms and his bed. If there could have been a warning label that accompanied the look that he gave her when he saw her on the other side of the door, it would have read: Caution! This look of lust can cause spontaneous combustion.

The last time they'd crossed a threshold together was also the last night they were together; the last night they'd laid eyes on each other before today; the last time they'd made love. It was painful to think about not only because she missed Logan deeply but because she had cheated on Piz that night, and it had changed the way she thought about herself forever. She saw herself more and more turning into Lianne Mars. Would the lying ever stop? Would she ever be able to have a normal relationship without wanting to jump Logan Echolls' bones? Well, running was a trait of Lianne's too – selfish and cruel. But she was determined to stop the cycle there. She had decided to start over and focus solely on her career, not love, marriage, or baby carriages…

Veronica raised her closed fist to knock again but before her knuckles met the door, she heard light footsteps. As the door swung open she was greeted with, "I left it open, Lo-"

From the doorway, a blonde girl in her early twenties mirrored Veronica's own expression with a look of mild surprise. _Why oh why would I assume that he lived alone? It's been years! Of course he could be dating someone, engaged, or possibly even married, _Veronica reasoned with herself angrily, a sick feeling forming in the pit of her stomach. But if her expression looked to be of mild surprise when she saw the girl, it soon morphed into full-on shock when a tiny little face peeked out from behind the left side of the slender thighs of the blonde.

**Boom! Don't fret though. **

**Inspirational Message of the Day:**

"Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden..." 


	8. Chapter 8

**Things are about to get a little angsty...**

**Chapter 8**

"I'm sorry," young woman stammered. "I thought you were someone else."

"Likewise," Veronica answered, hating herself instantly for the chilly tone in her voice. "I'm an old friend of Logan's."

"Hi!" the little boy with ruddy cheeks and a sweet smile exclaimed.

There was no mistaking the parentage of the boy who looked to be about three or four years old. He had Logan's charismatic brown eyes and messy spiky locks.

"Please, come in. Lo should be home with the pizza any minute," the woman said, stepping aside to afford Veronica entry into the small foyer. The way "Lo" rolled off the woman's tongue made Veronica literally want to melt into the concrete steps she was standing on.

"You want to play trucks?" the little boy asked excitedly. He bounced around like he was wearing moonshoes, waving his chubby little arms in the air.

The woman laughed. "Relax, Jakey! She's here to see Daddy."

"No, it's okay," Veronica said with a pause. "I'd love to see your trucks."

The little boy grabbed her hand in his small, sweaty grip and pulled her into their den area off the kitchen. "Daddy got me this one," he said, furnishing a red shiny Tonka truck, "for my birfday!" He zoomed it along the floor in crazy eight patterns that made Veronica's already swimming head feel like it was about to combust.

_Why am I still sitting here? Why didn't I say 'Oops, wrong house? Or, 'May I use your telephone to call a tow company?' Even 'Would you like to buy a magazine subscription to support my daughter's school trip to Timbuktu?' would have sufficed. _

"I'm baaaaccckk!" Veronica heard the front door swing open, "And I've got piiizzzzzzzzzzzzzaaaa!" Logan's excited voice boomed through the house, and it had a tone that Veronica had never heard him use before, probably something he reserved for his son.

Logan sauntered into the kitchen with an outstretched arm, palm up, balancing a large pizza box. When he saw the uninvited guest sitting in his den with his girlfriend/fiancée/wife and child, he dropped the box. It flipped open and a few slices of pizza slid out and grazed the floor. "Shit!" he cursed with force. "Second time today!"

Jake threw himself down, giggling maniacally while rolling around on the floor. "You said 'S-H-', daddy!" He clapped his hands gleefully.

"Yes, I did, Jake, and I am sorry because that is a very naughty thing to say. Good boys never say that."

His eyes were now on Veronica, and it looked like he was trying to gauge her reaction. _Well, Echolls, when I knew you, you weren't exactly a boy scout, and "shit" wasn't the naughtiest thing that ever came out of your mouth. _In fact, Logan had pretty much invented naughty.

The blonde stood and walked into the adjoining kitchen to clean up the mess. "You go ahead," she said to him quietly, "I've got it covered in here. I'll clean up and get the pizza onto plates." She turned back to Veronica. "Would you like a piece of pizza…?" she paused, politely waiting for Veronica to supply her name, since neither Veronica herself or Logan had bothered to properly introduce them.

Logan's eyes looked like they were going to bug out of his head, but he made no move to explain who the woman seated in his den was either. He appeared hesitant, and it occurred to Veronica that he may be waiting for her to offer up the name she wished to be called, as she was undercover.

"Veronica," she murmured.

"Ver-non-ika," the little boy pronounced like a slightly-off parrot. He shook his head, knowing it hadn't come out quite right.

"Veronica," Logan repeated.

"Nir-van-ika," Jake tried again.

"Close," Logan encouraged. "How about Ronnie? That one might be a little easier." But the little boy had given up with caring, already bored with the adult exchange. Jake, of course, did not pick up on the tension in the room that could be cut with a butter knife and served up on crackers, and so he went back to crashing his trucks into one another.

"Actually, Aim, would you mind taking Jake upstairs to get cleaned up first? We have a little catching up here and then we'll have dinner together."

"Daddy! Pizza?" Jake questioned, in staccato outbursts, as though his life depended on it.

"Yeah, buddy, real soon. Let Aimee take you upstairs for a sec though."

Jake, although disgruntled, agreed, and let Aimee lead him by the hand toward the staircase.

As he got to the first stair, he turned around to look back at Veronica. "You're from the picture, Ronnie-ka. I remember you with Daddy when he looked all funny!"

Veronica had no idea what to say. She was puzzled as she looked from Jake's smiling cherubic face to Logan's shocked expression. She looked apologetically at Aimee, but Aimee didn't seem to be shooting her any looks of disgust, just mild curiosity. "C'mon Jakey Bakey. Let's get you in the tub."

"Ok, but only if there's bubbles." Veronica heard him negotiate as he thudded up the steps.

"Veronica, what are you doing here?" Logan asked with quiet anger.

"I wanted - to explain myself - with early - in school," Veronica spluttered in quick succession, rambling nonsensical prepositional phrases.

"I know what you're _doing_ here; I just don't quite understand what you're doing _here,_" he said with a flourish of his outstretched palm, gesturing to his humble abode.

"I thought you were the one who said that we needed to talk!" Veronica exclaimed hotly, feeling all the blood in her body flow into her face.

"Yeah, and then you went sprinting from my room. I was kind of thinking we'd meet for coffee, somewhere low-key and on neutral ground. I wasn't expecting to have you show up in my living room. But that's always how it is with you! You do things on your terms and no one else's!"

Veronica glared at him but neglected to respond.

"Ask Mac. Or Wallace. I bet even your dad would admit it's true. You're selfish like that." He folded his arms and continued to meet her angry stare. He lowered his face so that it was right at her level and just inches away.

"But, things are a little different for me now, in case you haven't noticed. And I have to be a little selfish myself, to protect the one person who thinks, for some crazy reason, that I set the sun, the moon, and all the stars up in the sky. I think you should go. We can talk somewhere else, some other time."

Tears pricked Veronica's pale blue eyes and threatened to make a cameo appearance right down her cheeks. She pushed past him and ran out the door straight to her car, never looking back…If she had, she'd have seen Logan fighting a losing internal battle with his own emotions.

**This was a hard chapter to write, but I think it gives Logan a little more depth, and now I can get on to writing the chapters I have been dying to write since I started this! Questions. Will. Be. Answered.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"I'm sick, Ma. I can't go to school today."

It was Monday morning, and the weekend had passed in the blink of an eye. Nancy sat perched at the edge of the bed looking intently at Veronica, who had the covers pulled up to her chin. She tried her hardest to make herself look like she was deathly ill.

"I don't know, Veronica. I feel like something's going on with you. You've been acting strange since we arrived. And that's saying a lot, because I always found you to be an odd duck. But after Friday night, you have been acting, dare I say, even weirder. Bob was really disappointed you weren't more excited about the bugged pen he made for you, at your request, I might add. He was up half the night on Friday working on getting the sound quality just right. And during the teleconference with Matt you barely said two words aside from telling him that you made contact with a member of the victim's family and that she talked to you about the disappearance. Don't blow this; we've got a really great start."

Veronica was chagrined to admit, case-wise it was a good start, but all this came at the cost of her life being in shambles. Across the room on the tv screen, a bouncing ball connected the numbers to an ambulance-chasing lawyer's phone number. Likewise, Veronica also tried to connect the dots of all the information she had taken in this weekend: Logan was a high school English teacher at Pan. Logan had abandoned the Echolls name in favor of Stone, the surname of his half-brother Charlie. Logan was in a relationship with a cute blonde, and they had pet names like "Lo" and "Aim", so clearly it was something that had been evolving over some time. And the biggest shocker, folks, Logan had a son, an adorable three-year old son, who couldn't pronounce her name and mistakenly claimed he had seen her before in a picture with 'daddy'. All of this could only lead her to surmise, Logan didn't miss her at all.

"There's more to this case, Nance, than what meets the eye. I have a past, and that past is starting collide head-on with the present. I want to try to right the wrongs I made, but it's too late and far too challenging right now."

"Veronica, I don't want to encourage you to get distracted from your work, but it's never too late to fix something, especially if this "something" is really important to you. But you also have to accept that you can't micromanage and control every little aspect either." Nancy was starting to sound like the mother Veronica had never really had growing up. "Listen, take a nice hot shower and get ready. I can call the attendance office and let them know you might be a little late."

_Try forty minutes late so I can avoid the mysterious and mercurial Mr. Stone altogether, _Veronica thought to herself.

* * *

"Jennie! Hey, Jennie!" Until Lily walked up to the table she was sitting at in the congested cafeteria and all but threw her tray down next to her, Veronica hadn't made the connection that someone was trying to summon her attention.

_Damn…Must remember I am Jennie Kempner, not Veronica freakin' Mars._

"Hey, what's up?"

"Where were you first period? Mr. Stone asked me if I had seen you. He probably thinks you skipped his class. He's got a thing about skippers. Makes 'em serve detention. He always says, 'if you waste my teaching time, I'll waste double the amount of your free time with detention after school.' Man, I wouldn't mind that! But, I'd never skip his class either. It's my favorite."

"Actually," Veronica cut in, "I wasn't skipping; I just had a late start this morning so my mom called the front office." _Hmmmm, so he treats me like I have the Bubonic plague when I show up at his house, but now he is curious about my absence from his class? I can't win, _Veronica mused, trying to sort it all out. What she didn't know, because she had been so cautious to avoid the second floor where his classroom was located, was that between every period he'd been standing in his doorway scanning the hordes of students for her.

"Anyway, I was thinking, it might be fun to get together after school tomorrow. I know you're new in town and probably don't know any of the cool places to hang out and meet people. I could show you around a little and then we could grab a pizza at La Hacienda, my great-aunt's restaurant."

Veronica smiled her first genuine smile since Friday when she'd gotten that swift kick in the teeth. "That sounds really nice, Lily. I'd actually love to." It would certainly give her a chance to dig a little deeper about Ophelia as well as a more accurate glimpse into teen society here in Pan. Although the Navarro family had all given statements after Ophelia's disappearance, in Veronica's experience, sometimes people neglected to share important details, dismissing their connection with the case. Also, although Matt had said that all of the victims were last seen at Pan High before they went missing, someone had likely been watching the girls for an extended period of time before they were kidnapped. It would give her an opportunity to stake out any suspicious characters lurking around teenage hotspots.

Speaking of unsavory characters, a young man wearing the oddest get-up for a high-schooler – a short-sleeved button-down dress shirt with an orange bowtie and slicked back hair and thick-framed black glasses – approached their table. He pointed his forefinger at the girls and clicked his tongue twice quickly. "Hey kids. Enjoy lunch. Stay in school." Veronica was speechless.

"Did that really just happen?" she marveled. She and Lily exchanged a look of raised eyebrows and simultaneously burst into fits of hysterical laughter. Veronica felt tears start to roll down her cheeks, and while wiping them away with the backs of her hands exclaimed, "Who was _that_?"

"Mr. Finch," Lily giggled.

"No way _that _guy is a teacher! He looks about nineteen going on sixty-five!"

"He's a student teacher. He's with Mrs. Lucca, my math teacher. He actually started in September with Mr. Lockardt, but apparently he did a _horrible _job teaching Pre-Calc. Mr. Lockardt actually refused to sign off on his documentation for school, and he failed the semester. But, I think someone in administration must have taken pity on him because he's back again this semester, except they bumped him down to Senior Math Topics."

"Oooohhh, ouch. Didn't seem to bruise his ego too much though." They again burst into a fit of giggles. _Gosh, I miss having a best friend. _Veronica flashed back to all of the mischief she and Lilly had gotten into in high school. Well, if she were being honest, Lilly had caused the mischief; Veronica was always just along for the ride. The irony of the fact that she had returned to high school for a second time, only to befriend a second Lilly/Lily was not lost on her.

"Hey, I've gotta run. You know, you should really pop by and let Mr. Stone know that you're here. He's really good about staying after and catching students up with missed work, so, you know, you don't get behind and get banished from prom."

Veronica looked down her nose at Lily.

"Oh yeah! They have a strict policy about prom. 90% attendance and passing all classes is a mandatory requirement to be eligible to attend."

Veronica adopted the concerned look that Lily expected she should have. What senior girl didn't want to don an uncomfortable dress, pay for an overpriced dinner, and then sweat like a pig while dancing to the musical stylings of Lady Gaga and Flo-Rida?

"Yeah, I will catch him at the end of the day when I have photography," Veronica answered wistfully.

* * *

Veronica slid into 214 right as they bell rang, and immediately, Logan approached her with his eyes flashing.

"Where were you first period?" he demanded. Veronica's eyes flitted to catch the "Ooohhh! Busted!" looks from her classmates. Logan, realizing he that had come on a bit strong, lowered his voice. "Seriously, you missed AP English. It doesn't look good for a new student, no matter how worldly and well-educated she is."

"I was feeling sick to my stomach this morning, so I came in a little late," Veronica replied, sounding edgy and a lot braver than she felt at the moment.

"Is there any way you can stay after school for a little while today? I can catch you up on what you missed during English now while the other students are working independently on their projects for the spring art fair, and then after school we can get you started on that."

After he had made her feel about the size of her pinky finger on Friday, Veronica couldn't resist, "Oh, I don't know…Won't your _wife _be expecting you home right after school?"

Logan lowered himself so that his face was at level with hers. She could see volatility in his intense brown eyes, and the slight throbbing of a vein in his temple belied the anxiety that was brewing within his core.

"She's _not _my _wife_," Logan hissed, barely audible and walked over to his desk. She watched him pull out his weathered copy of _Hamlet _and his notes from the day's lecture. He glanced up at her again meaningfully, and she saw no other choice but to retrieve her copy of the book as well. She opened her notebook to a fresh page and uncapped her pen. _Shit! _she mentally cursed. The pen was recording her every conversation, and it was probably safe to guess that the last conversation didn't sound like your typically student-teacher banter.

* * *

When the bell rang, students trudged out into the halls and Veronica was hot on their heels when Logan grabbed her arm just above her elbow.

"Not so fast, Kempner."

"No, no, I'm just running to my locker to grab something," Veronica responded lamely. _Make that to stash something._

"Make it quick and meet me in the darkroom."

Veronica sprinted to her locker, spun the combination like she'd been doing it her whole life, and dumped the contents of what she carried from class to class into the empty vessel, including the bugged pen. If she was ever going to get to the bottom of all of her questions, she couldn't do it with the prying ears of her colleagues. She slammed the locker closed and retreated back to the classroom, to the darkroom, where Logan awaited her.

She no sooner got to the door when she felt her cell phone buzz. She retrieved it and quickly scanned the text message: YOU FORGOT THE PEN! She ducked into the classroom from the still crowded halls, and dialed back Nancy's number.

"Yeah, Veronica? What the hell is going on? You are supposed to have that pen on you at all times."

"Hey, Mom!" she said for the benefit of any eavesdropping students, "I'm sorry I forgot to tell you earlier, but I have to meet with my English teacher to go over the work I missed earlier. I won't be more than an hour tops."

"Veronica, you _really _need to go back for that pen!"

"Mom, I totally hear you. My studies _are _very important."

"Vee, you're putting us all in a really bad place right now. How can we keep you safe if you don't have the pen so we can hear what's happening?"

"Of _course _I have my cell phone and am totally accessible if you need me. I keep thinking about what you said earlier. You know, about it never being too late to fix a bad situation? About not trying to micromanage everything in life?"

"Listen, Veronica, I don't know exactly what is going on, but if I am going to hold off Bob and Tim from busting into Pan High you have exactly one hour to do whatever it is you need to do, and you have A LOT of explaining to do when you get back here, got it?"

Damn did she have that mom voice down! "Thanks, Nan," she murmured under her breath. _One hour, that's all I need_


	10. Chapter 10

**Long Awaited...**

**Chapter 10**

Veronica stepped into the cylindrical door that led into the darkroom, feeling slightly claustrophobic, like being sucked into an MRI machine. She swiveled the door till she was met by harsh red lighting. Logan stood, arms folded, leaning against the counter space on the far wall, with an expression that was hard to read.

"All right, Logan Echolls, you wanted to talk? I've got one hour and a slew of questions, so let's get started."

His mouth went slack at her audacity and the use of his former name.

She leaned forward and unbuttoned her top button and replied with a teasing smile. "Look, Ma! No wires!"

He still stared, a bit awestruck, and then lifted himself onto the counter top and patted the space next to him.

She obliged, trying to hide the nervousness she felt at their proximity. Six years didn't have anything on the fact that their close contact sent electrical charges up her spine.

"So, how about a game of Twenty Questions? Ten questions each, so make them count," Veronica proposed.

Logan let out the air he had been holding in slowly, with his hands steepled like he was praying for mercy.

"Yeah, sure. Let me brace myself, though, it's been quite a while since one of your infamous interrogations."

"You can start, if you like," Veronica offered, feeling prepared that he would ask her to explain why she'd left him, without even so much as a goodbye, after what had been a night of passion that would surely have led to them getting back together for a fourth time if she'd stuck around.

"No, ladies first, I insist," he said with a flourish of his palm. "In fact, I am feeling so gentlemanly, you can take all ten of your questions first."

"And they say chivalry is dead," Veronica smiled.

"No, actually, I am trying to think realistically. Once you get started, I doubt I'll get a question in edgewise."

"Ah, with the jokes, no wonder you're the most popular teacher in PanHigh School. I guess that's the route I'll go first – high school English teacher? Where on earth did that come from?"

Logan, imitating a sports commentator, "And folks, she decides to ease in on her prey with a simple question." He looked thoughtful for a second. "Why not? And, don't even think about counting that as one of my questions!"

Veronica laughed but worried she had hurt his feelings. "There's absolutely nothing wrong with being a high school English teacher. Just ask Mr. Daniels. That is, if he's still speaking to you after what you and Weevil did to his car."

Logan laughed in spite himself, thinking back to his high school English teacher's compact car, skewered on the flag pole in front of Neptune High School. "Actually, it's guys like him that make me glad I am in this profession. He had no passion for what he did. He loved making students miserable because somebody had probably tortured the joy of learning right out of him. Seriously, though, I got into teaching because I had majored in English, and knew it was a viable option for a career. I loved writing and can rattle off big words like 'anthropomorphic', but I never expected to like kids half as much as I do."

"Oh, and they _love _you, especially the ladies!"

"Have I ever told you, you're cute when you're jealous?" Logan taunted with a sneer.

Veronica scoffed. "Ok, next question. Photography? That's kind of a surprise."

"Yeah for me too! I have dabbled with it since Jake was a baby. I loved chasing him around with a camera, and I used to bring a lot of my pictures in to show off to my coworkers. When they had to make budget cuts in the art department, I was approached to teach a section of photography and agreed because of all the perks. This nifty little dark room, kickass cameras at my disposal, ya know. If I wouldn't have agreed, they would have just sold off all the equipment."

"Hmmm," Veronica said thoughtfully.

"What? Oh, I get it. You think your little hobby rubbed off on me! I've got news for you Mars, I am a man of many talents."

_Don't I know it, _Veronica thought to herself, feeling a heated blush spread over her pale features.

"You sure you don't want to ask a question of your own?"

"What, when you're going so easy on me?" He folded his hands together behind his head and a slow, sexy smile spread over his face. "I could do this all day."

"Is Aimee your girlfriend?" Veronica blurted out, because, the question on her mind was like a full bladder, she simply couldn't hold it anymore.

Logan started and then stopped. He started again and then stopped. Veronica felt like she was going to hurtle herself off of the counter top and straight onto the floor if he didn't give her an answer in the next three seconds.

"Maybe I will use a question after all."

"The hell you will! You didn't answer mine!"

"Damn, bossy! I was just going to ask what makes you think that?"

"Okay, fine, spend your first question, I'll bite," Veronica relented as she began to tick off the obvious reasons on her fingertips. "She answered your door, she calls you "Lo", she does stuff around your house like helping you with dinner and giving Jake a bath. And," she added conclusively, "You said she wasn't your _wife_."

"Touché, Remington Steele."

"That's not an answer, Logan," Veronica shot back hotly.

"I just find it amusing that you jumped to that assumption. Because if you stepped back and assessed all the facts, you might have deduced that she is only nineteen, lives next door, and babysits my son daily."

"Oh." That's pretty much all Veronica could say. It was a little embarrassing when he put it like that. "So, Aimee's the babysitter…" It certainly explained their close relationship and why Aimee hadn't exactly acted as though she felt threatened by Veronica showing up on their doorstep last Friday. But Veronica couldn't help but persisting a little further. "The babysitter that you are most definitely not sleeping with?"

"That is seriously going to cost you a question, Mars. I already answered that. No, I am not sleeping with her!"

"Well, shit, I don't know. Even famous actors like Jude Law get caught by TMZ for banging the nanny…" The words just hung there like a wet towel, and it was too late to take them back. It was clear what she had unconsciously implied. Logan was a product of such an actor, Aaron Echolls, who had screwed just about anything that moved and had a penchant for teenage girls.

"I'm sorry, Logan, I wasn't thinking about how that would sound before it came out of my mouth."

"Clearly. You kind of have an uncanny habit of inserting your foot in your mouth." He smiled to show that no harm to their little game or his fragile ego had been done. "For the record, though, I am a completely different man than my father was. I would never do anything that would hurt my son in that way."

"I believe that one hundred percent."

"You're up."

"No, I'm pretty sure I skipped your turn at least five times."

"No, go ahead, I said you could ask all your questions, so let's get on with the game."

Veronica was dying to jump right into the question of how the hell did Logan ended up with a son. _Well, that, _Veronica thought, feeling a pang of jealousy, _is pretty obvious. _The real question was how he ended up raising Jake all alone, but she knew it was incredibly personal and possibly a sensitive subject. She thought maybe it was better to wait until Logan broached the topic. Instead she asked, "What happened to you after I left?"

"Well, first I locked myself in a padded room and listened to angry Taylor Swift break-up songs…"

"I mean," Veronica clarified, "I heard that you left Hearst and went to PepperdineUniversity in Malibu. But then you kind of fell off the map."

"And how would you know that?"

"I may have run a background check or two…"

"Naturally. I would expect no less from the girl who traced my cell phone and who considered putting a LoJack on my car."

Veronica laughed remembering how she seriously misused her privileges to all sorts of tracking devices that her father used in his PI business.

"So, _I_ didn't exactly fall off the map, but _Logan Echolls_ sure did."

"This is gonna get weird if you start referring to yourself in the third person. I am curious why you picked 'Stone' as a surname."

"You can disguise your musings anyway you like, but for the record that is still a question." He held up six fingers to show her that she had spent more than half of her questions.

"I guess it was because the last names 'Rock', 'Pebble', and 'Boulder' were all taken."

She shot him a look that suggested he could do better with both his answer and his lame joke.

"Did you know that there are over 175,082 people in the United States with the last name Stone? By the way, that was a rhetorical question."

"Seriously, you know what I am getting at. I did all that legwork to find out why your trust fund was evaporating, only to unearth a half-brother – Charlie Stone – that you and Trina knew nothing about."

"Yeah, after Larry King," Logan answered. "He didn't want a damn thing to do with me. But, then his youngest daughter was diagnosed with leukemia. Neither Charlie or his wife Brenna were matches to provide her with bone marrow for a transplant, so his doctor suggested he reach out to other family members. His mom passed away a few years ago, and Trina is adopted, so that ruled her out as a likely match. Long story short, I ended up being a match. It was kind of hard for him to avoid me after that."

"Wow, Logan. I am sorry to hear about your niece. I hope she is all right. That was incredibly decent of you, by the way."

"Well, having my own kid now really puts it in perspective. Kasia has been in remission for a few years, and Charlie and I got pretty tight during that ordeal. He invited me to come out and stay with him and his family in Sacramento after binge drinking and cutting class tanked my GPA at Pepperdine, and we made up for a lot of lost time. Staying with his family gave me a chance to get a new lease on life. I had the chance to figure out who I wanted to become. And Charlie had great brotherly advice along the way. He's actually the one who suggested dropping Echolls as a surname. When he suggested taking Stone as my last name, it made me feel like I finally had one small shred of a family connection left. I reenrolled in school as Logan Stone, and since I had a lot of respect for the work that Charlie did, I started to think about pursuing a Master's in education once I finished with my undergrad work in English.

"I'm really glad you and Charlie reconnected. I felt awful about how things went down with that Norman Phipps character who posed as Charlie, when really all he wanted to do was scoop a story for Vanity Fair. But, still changing your name to Stone hardly seems like enough to throw off the media. How is it that you're living a relatively normal fame-free life? Don't your students ever make the connection that you are Logan Echolls, Hollywood royalty?"

"It's funny but evading the media wasn't all that hard. It's simple. I have a son, I go to work, I socialize with a close circle of friends that I trust, and that's pretty much it. I'm hiding right in plain sight. If the paparazzi wanted to find me, I guess it wouldn't be that much of a challenge. But society wants stories with shock value. Drugs, scandals, sex, and murders sell tabloids. My life is a boring by their standards; there is no shocking exposé to unearth. It's funny because when I started at Hearst, I couldn't get away from turning on the tv and seeing the True Hollywood story of my family laid right out on cable for everyone to see and judge. But my parents are dead and so is the story. Ask Trina; she's been trying to drum up publicity for years."

"So you went to college in Sacramento, but you still ended up back here near Neptune," Veronica prodded wanting to hear more about the past six years of his life, even though it tortured her more than she ever thought possible that he had grown so much as a person and she hadn't been there for any of it.

"Yeah," a stormy look passed over Logan's face. A short time passed without either one speaking before Veronica cautiously put her tiny hand on top of Logan's, giving her serious déjà vu of a previous day nearly eight years ago when she had tentatively reached up and given him a small token of her appreciation.

"I met a girl there. Her name was Amelie. She was my type, you know, damsel in distress, vulnerable, blonde."

The way he threw the last attribute out there made Veronica want to crack a smile, but she could tell from his apprehension that whatever he was about to say was not going to be easy.

"She was here from France through a study abroad program. It was kind of perfect because she was only supposed to be here for a semester, and I certainly wasn't looking for anything serious, after…" His words hung there for a second until he proceeded. "But, a few months into casual dating, she told me she was pregnant. I totally freaked out. I was twenty-one and was supposed to be enjoying my college years being drunk and finally being legal. But she didn't let my meltdown deter her. She was so excited to have this baby. We only had each other because her entire family was in France, and I, of course, am Lil Orphan Annie."

Veronica wanted to look away because the conversation was getting so intense, but it was like a train wreck. As much as it pained her to hear, she was enthralled.

"When Jake was born, it was pure instinct though. I had no idea what I was doing. I didn't read any of the parenting books like she had, but somehow I just _knew_ what to do. We got a little apartment near campus, and we worked out our schedules with work and school so that we could always have someone at home with Jake. It was great because we never had to miss any of his firsts…one of us was always there, with the iphone or Nikon out to capture the moment. She had told me that she had decided that raise Jake here and vacation in France for the summers so Jake could be exposed to both of our cultures. I figured I should do the honorable thing, and so I went out and bought her a ring. I got home that night and found her sitting on the couch with all the lights out. She had the tv on. As fate would have it, she had caught the entire episode of the True Hollywood story of Aaron Echolls, the murderous movie star, and the scandals that surrounded my family."

Veronica took a sharp intake of air. She had not been expecting that. At all.

Logan continued, "She kept asking me how I could have kept something like that from her. It never occurred to me that I should have told her. I had tried so hard to distance myself from that name, from that life. She looked at me with pure contempt and then asked me how I expected her to live a life that was a lie, with the son of a murderer, raising a child who could very well be the spawn of Satan himself." Logan choked the last part out, but as Veronica reached to comfort him, he put his hand up stop her. He needed to get the rest of his story out before he was unable to.

"She left the next morning. If her love for Jake couldn't even change her mind, what chance did I have?"

"I'm beyond words," Veronica murmured. There was literally nothing she could say that would make a bit of difference.

"It broke my heart. For Jake. I had already had my heart ripped out. Countless times. But to do that – to your own child – I still can't even fathom," he whispered.

Veronica felt her eyes well up, which was a rare occasion for her. She preferred to get her crying out in the privacy of her own shower, but Logan's pain for his son was palpable.

"Please, Veronica, don't even think about feeling sorry for me. I've come to peace with it; I just know that one day in the near future, I am going to have a lot of questions to answer to a boy who really got the short end of the stick. For right now, I can't take the pitying look in your eyes, though."

Veronica tried her hardest to shake the shock and forlorn look from her face. How the hell was she supposed to change the subject after that revelation though?

"I would say I have expended my ten questions after that. I have grilled you plenty. I guess I am fair game now. Go ahead, ask me anything. I am an open book, except of course, if it is in reference to this case. I am really not at liberty to talk about that. In fact, divulging my real name to your nanny and son was not the smoothest move on my part. I have already broken so many protocols, I wouldn't be surprised if I am unemployed when I return to Virginia," Veronica mused with a shy smile.

"I don't have ten questions for you, just one," Logan said, evasively.

"Well, go ahead, shoot," Veronica implored.

Logan jumped down from the counter top he had been perched on next to her and turned to face her. "Why is it that when I really should be asking why you left, all I really want to do is kiss you?"

If Veronica hadn't been perched atop the counter already, she would have needed to sit down after that confession. But before she could even fully react to what Logan had said, his soft, sweet-talking lips were on hers. Everything was happening as though it was in fast forward. He stepped between her open knees and pressed one hand onto her lower back and while the other cradled the nape of her neck. Within a matter of seconds, he tipped her head back to deepen the kiss. She felt his tongue dart into her mouth, and a low groan that was primal and instinctual, and that only Logan could induce, escaped from her. She wound her arms around him to pull him in closer. It had been so long, she didn't feel like she could get close enough to him. Her hands found their way into his messy locks, and before long they were both panting and tugging at each other's close in frustration with stupid inventions like buttons and zippers. Everywhere he ran his fingertips felt like he was setting fire to her. There was absolutely no thinking, just reacting, which was evident when she felt him reacting to her right through his dress pants against the scrap of panties she had on beneath her short skirt that was hiked up around her hips. It was rough yet gentle all at the same time and felt exciting yet familiar, as though no time had passed since they had last been together.

Her entire body vibrated with pleasure…Wait, that vibrating…

"OH SHIT!"

"What?" Logan asked, semiconsciously like a junkie trying to get a fix.

"It's been an hour. I've got to go. NOW!" Veronica exclaimed, trying to right her clothing while sliding down from the counter. She slid against his solid body and was tempted to pick right up where they had left off seconds before her phone had gone off. But remembering her promise to Nancy, who had really gone out on a limb for her, was sobering despite her delirium at being back in Logan's arms.

"I'm sorry, Logan. I've gotta go."

"Veronica Mars, you are like Cinder – fucking – ella," Logan whispered, trying to cool himself down, as Veronica slipped through his fingers, yet again, and through the revolving door to the dark room.

**Took awhile with this lengthy chapter, because so many important details and LoVe are coming together. (I apologize for any typos; I couldn't wait to post this chapter though). But you know, even if I leave you with a cliffhanger, I usually never take more than a day to update. Reviews please! If you are having as much fun as me, please favorite the story and make my day!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"Where the hell have you been?" Nancy thundered as Veronica slipped into room 321 at the Camelot Motel at half past four.

Three faces stared at her with expressions that ranged from shock to annoyance to curiosity, and Veronica was suddenly more self-conscious than she'd ever felt. She smoothed her skirt while running her hand through her hair, which had been disheveled in the throes of passion with Logan. She prayed that her colleagues didn't smell Logan's scent all over her, as she did. If her phone hadn't gone off, there was a good chance her clothes might have ended up on that dark room floor, and even as the thought flitted through her the confines of her own mind, she felt exposed as if somehow her companions could somehow sense it.

"I-I was following up on a lead," she responded lamely.

"Without your pen?" Tim droned, with a hint of sarcasm disguised as boredom.

Yeah, there was no good quip to get around that one. "I accidentally left it in my locker, and by the time I realized it, I would have lost the opportunity to speak with my source," she improvised. "So, when Nancy called me to remind me that I had left the pen behind, I gave her the heads up to let her know that I was still accessible by phone so you guys would be at ease that my life wasn't in peril."

"I knew we shoulda gone with earrings! She can't forget 'em that way! So, what happened?" Bob asked.

"Nothing happened!" Veronica wailed, fearful that despite the fact that she had left the bug behind, they somehow knew she had spent the better part of the last hour with Logan's tongue jammed down her throat.

"He's talking about the lead," Nancy hissed in a tone that was barely audible.

"Oh, I was mistaken. I thought that this source was going to elaborate more on one of the girls whose disappearance we are investigating, but he had little to share that was of any relevance to the case." _Only a partial lie. Logan talked about a girl's disappearance, but that girl who Amelie, his son's mother, who had left him because she feared that she had procreated with a monster and had birthed a son who would follow in the murderous footsteps of his grandfather. And clearly, none of that is relevant to _this_ case._

"Veronica, I would like to speak with you. In private," Nancy ordered. Bob and Tim seemed only too eager to let Nancy handle Veronica's insubordination. In the time they had worked with Veronica, they knew her to be an excellent field agent. But they were also aware of her explosive temper and her propensity to go rogue when she thought that she knew a better way to handle a case.

Nancy opened the door, and with a pointed look at her, Veronica saw no other option but to follow her and spill her guts.

* * *

"You need to tell me what's going on with you…Now."

Veronica buried her head in her hands. "Where do I start?" For the second time today, she felt tears spring up easily in her eyes.

She felt the bed shift as Nancy eased herself down to sit beside her. "Veronica, you know proper protocol, and you're breaking rules, rules that are put in place for your own safety. Not to mention that you also put our jobs on the line. I know that there is more to the story than you're letting on. When I told you that it was never too late to try to fix things with someone you love, I was talking hypothetically. I would never have advised that if I knew that it meant you were planning to put this operation at risk. You've got to talk to me. Less with the evasive and more with the forthright."

"When I said that my past was colliding with my present, I was referring to the fact that there is someone within the school that I was involved with, six years ago. Mr. Stone," Veronica started, then feeling silly for referring to him as though he really were her high school English teacher, corrected herself. "Logan Echolls was the love of my life. He's the one that got away. Scrap that, he's the one I ran away from because I was terrified of the intensity of our relationship. I was worried that I loved him too much, and it seemed like no matter how hard we tried to make it work, we couldn't seem to get it right. Instead of breaking things off like a normal person and then just really keeping my distance, I decided to up and move across the country without so much as a goodbye. And then last Friday, I walked into his class, posing as Jennie Kempner, and I feel like…I don't even know how to explain what I'm feeling, Nance."

"Shit! What the hell would possess you to put yourself in a position like this? How can you maintain an undercover profile if there is someone in that school who knows your true identity?"

Veronica wasn't ready to reveal how her relationship with Matt played into the equation, how he had pressured her to take the undercover when he knew that she had ties in the area. She had already revealed more than she had felt comfortable telling anyone besides her father or Wallace. "I didn't know before," she whispered, "And now, I already have a story established and have made a connection with Lily. If we abandon the sting now, I doubt we'll ever be able to get this close again. Besides, my identity is safe with Logan. He doesn't want to dredge up the past either because he is sort of laying low himself."

"Veronica, you've got to level with me. Are you currently involved with this teacher? You need to consider how bad this could look, especially for him! Nobody knows that you are twenty-five and were previously involved with him. If anyone were catch the two of you together in a compromising position, all they are going to see is a teacher taking advantage of Jennie Kempner, a seventeen year old girl!"

Veronica felt like an ass. The thought hadn't even crossed her mind. She had been too fixated on Logan's hands all over her, his lips claiming her mouth, and the growing desire pooling throughout her body.

"I'm not saying you don't deserve to reconnect with someone you clearly still have strong feelings for. But, now isn't the time for a romantic fling. You can't blow this - " Nancy stopped and a strange look came over her face. Her hand fluttered quickly to her growing belly, and she exhaled hard.

"What's wrong, Nance?" Veronica cried, suddenly fearful that her personal crisis was sending Nancy into premature labor.

"Nothing's wrong," Nancy said with a slow smile radiating over her face. "That was just my little peanut saying hello!"

Veronica stared blankly, not quite processing what the three-time mom was saying. Nancy grabbed Veronica's hand in her own and placed it on her round belly. Veronica felt little taps against Nancy's midsection and then one sharp jab. "Damn, you've got a little soccer player in there! Doesn't that hurt?"

"Not at all, it feels reassuring when I feel her move, especially when she's been so still all day. I guess this is her way of telling me to back off and lower my voice."

Veronica was thoughtful. Out of two hundred and six bones in her body, she had never considered herself as a having even one maternal one, but seeing Logan with his son and hearing him talk about his love for Jake and his anguish at Jake's mother's absence made her wish that her biological clock would tick a little louder. She never would have pegged Logan as the fatherly type either, but it was clear that he was amazing with Jake. It made her long for what could have been if she's stuck around Neptune. But, if she was being honest with herself, it was probably not the path they would have taken anyway. She and Logan ran hot, very hot, steamy almost, straight to frigid. To think that they would have ended up in a happily-ever-after scenario was highly improbable. But now that time had passed, maybe there was hope…

The small rotary phone on the nightstand trilled sharply, breaking through Veronica's confusion. Nancy stood to answer it.

"Yeah?" she answered tersely. "Uh-huh. Okay. Put him through." She replaced the phone on its cradle. "Bob says that Adams wants to speak with you. He's on line two." She moved towards the door.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"Bob said that he requested to speak with you. Alone."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Veronica hesitated before scooping up the phone and pushing the button to connect the call on line two. Since she had been in California, she had only spoken to Matt Adams in a professional capacity. She, of course, was punishing him for being a royal ass by sending her off to go undercover for a case she had dragged her heels to be a part of and then abandoning her to stay behind and work with power-hungry, attention whore, Pamela Abrams. But if she were to get technical, she had never broken things off with Matt; she was just giving him the cold shoulder to show him that he may be the lead on her team, but he was not going to get the best of her. Now things were infinitely more complicated.

"Mars," she stated matter-of-factly into the phone, although the confidence and indifference in her voice was also followed by a nervous drop in her stomach.

"Veronica," he said softly, almost sweetly. And then: "What is going on with you? I got word from Tim that you followed up on a lead without your bug. What the hell would possess you to do something so foolish?"

"It was an honest mistake. Did Tim tell you that? Or did he conveniently leave that part out?"

"He was pretty objective about the whole thing. He doesn't need to cover your ass for sophomoric mistakes. He does, however, have to report out to me on any and all developments in this case."

Veronica rolled her eyes skyward and then back down to the floor. Of course, she knew Matt was right. It wasn't Tim's fault that she had broken protocol, and she needed to be much more careful in the future. Conveying that to Logan was going to be the hard part.

"I get it. I messed up. I'm sorry."

"Tell me about the case and what you found out today. I'm hoping that the risk you took was well worth it," Matt probed.

Veronica explained that her English teacher had requested that she stay after school to complete a missing work and she had hoped to broach the subject of the missing girls based on a comment made by Lily Navarro, one of his students, about her cousin Ophelia. But, she added hastily, that the opportunity never presented itself in an organic way so she had decided that she would continue through another avenue – hanging out with Lily outside of school the following night. Even as she was saying it, she knew it sounded pretty lame but she saw no other way of explaining the lapse of time between when she'd thrown the bug in her locker and when she'd returned to the Camelot. The bug? She'd forgotten completely that she was not wired and that she relied solely on the pen to pick up her conversations. She had tossed it into her locker by mistake. Matt didn't sound pleased; he reminded her that even if she had been able to make headway with her English teacher, none of it would have been recorded. It would be like the conversation never even happened.

"So, Mars, let me ask you this. You sought out the opportunity; should we be looking at the teacher as a potential suspect?"

_Not for the reasons you're thinking._

"Absolutely not. He is completely unconnected as far I can tell. I just thought that he might be willing to talk about the cases with me because he seems to have a lot of compassion for his students, and in turn, they have a lot of respect for him."

"Listen, Veronica," Matt started, shifting the conversation away from the case. "I know you're pissed off about me staying behind. You think that I threw you into something and then didn't have your back."

_Well, there's that. Then there's the fact that you claimed that you wanted to meet my father and see where I grew up. Also, you seem to prioritize your career before my feelings. I am like a stepping stool to get ahead in the Bureau. And, of course, there's the fact that you chose Pamela to be your wingwoman to take down the actual perps while I get banished back to twelfth grade, _Veronica thought to herself, mentally calculating his many offenses. _And here I thought I was in a _mature_ relationship. I haven't been manipulated like this since I dated Troy Vandergraff._

"Well didn't you?"

"You have a tendency of making everything extremely personal when this was more of a professional necessity," Matt reasoned, and then in a softer tone, "I miss you. I have been thinking about you a lot since you left."

_Strangely, you haven't crossed my mind at all since Logan Echolls stepped back into it. _Veronica was conflicted. Matt was a huge part of her life. Her new life, in Virginia. But with Logan back in her life, Matt seemed like a distant stranger to her, almost like he was the one she left behind all those years ago.

"Oh, and," Matt added, seemingly unaware and unbothered by the fact that she hadn't reciprocated the sentiment, "we're moving you and the team into an apartment complex. It's in a seedier section of town, closer to where some of the missing girls resided, though. We were able to procure something and figured it would be a better cover for you, should you start to bring friends back to your place."

"That's good," Veronica said, absently, somewhat disappointed to leave the nostalgia of the Camelot, although she knew it was a logical move that they probably should have taken from the start.

"I want you to pursue this friendship with Lily Navarro; it's the most promising lead you've had, and I think she could provide you with a wealth of useful information."

"Got it," Veronica replied with a quick salute. "Listen, I better go. I am exhausted trying to keep up with this school schedule. I'll talk to you soon, okay?"

There was a slight hesitation before Matt wished her a good night and ended the call.

_Damn, _Veronica thought to herself. It was only a little after six, but she was emotionally exhausted, and all she wanted to do was fall into bed and dream about nothing other than Logan Echolls.

* * *

The next morning Veronica packed up her room at the Camelot before heading to Pan High in her sporty little red coupe. When she entered Logan's classroom, she made a beeline for her seat next to Lily but not without noticing the stare that could've melted a block of ice radiating from Logan.

_Must. Play. This. Cool. _If he wasn't thinking rationally about what a torrid affair could look like to his student-groupies, then she'd have to be proactive for the both of them. She quickly struck up an easy conversation with Lily, who was playing the part of the prepared and attentive student, with her copy of _Hamlet_ and her notebook out, a fresh paged headed with the date.

"We still on for later?" Lily asked with a tone of excitement. "I can't wait for you to try the pizza at my auntie's restaurant. I know Buffalo is world-renowned for their wings and pizza, but my aunt makes a killer pie! You're gonna love it."

_Shit, now I have to add pizza and wing connoisseur to my repertoire? Hopefully that can be easily faked by devouring whatever is put in front of me._

"You guys grabbing a bite after school?" a voice interrupted. The voice belonged to a tall, dark haired, blue-eyed senior with a letterman's jacket. Total 09er material. He flashed a smile at Veronica, showing dimples, that she imagined, made all the girls swoon.

"Yeah we're grabbing some food from La Hacienda later on, Josh. You should try it! Dang, my aunt should pay me! I'm like a walking advertisement for her restaurant!" Lily said, with a self-deprecating laugh.

"Is that an invitation?" Josh asked as he flashed another megawatt flirty smile, with his eyes solely on Veronica, even though he was responding to Lily.

"Yeah, why not? The more the merrier!" Lily said with excitement.

_No! Not 'the more the merrier'! I am trying to get _you _alone so I can interrogate you in a seemingly innocent fashion about the disappearance of your cousin_, Veronica thought with more than a hint of annoyance, which she tried to keep from showing on her face. _This case would have been so much easier if I could play Veronica Mars, high school PI, rather than being undercover as Jennie Kempner. I could be all up in people's business and not have to make excuses for it. Plus, I play the part of social outcast well. Veronica Mars would never have had high school boys flocking around her, fawning all over her. They would be vandalizing her LeBaron, bragging about imagined make-out sessions with her, and keying the falsified results of her purity test into her locker. _

Mr. Dimples appeared to be waiting for a confirmation from her. She bit her pen because she wasn't sure he'd like what came out of her mouth next, but as she chomped down on the cold hard metal, she recalled that her conversation was being recorded, and this gentleman suitor could be a potential source of information. Though, she deemed it unlikely, as five of the six missing girls had been from "the wrong side of the tracks" and likely not the type of Mr. Dimples. Still, it couldn't hurt.

Reluctantly, Veroncia donned a flirty little smile and batted her lashes a few times for effect. "Sure, like Lily said, 'The more the merrier!'"

A sharp voice cut through the high school chatter. "All right, people, although it's apparent love is in the air, with it being prom season and all, but we're reading a Shakespearean tragedy not a romance. Let's get started." If she thought the look Logan had given her at the start of class could melt a glacier, the look he was giving her now could refreeze it in three seconds flat.

_Seriously? Old habits die hard._ Veronica plucked out a stack of post-it notes that Nancy had purchased as part of her school supplies, ridiculously, along with page protectors and her very own three-hole punch, things that an average high school student would probably never need but their budget for making her Jennie Kempner allowed for. Veronica began a short message on a post- it, because she knew it was probably the only private conversation she'd be able to have with Logan at the present moment.

She wrote: _'You're cute when you're jealous too. I am sorry we can't finish our discussion right now. I am strategizing right now a way to continue our 'discussion' without my team eavesdropping. By the way, it occurred to me that I still have a few questions left in our game. I was wondering why Jake said that he recognized me from a picture. Hope we're not passing around Neptune High yearbooks! Those damned photographers never really caught me at my finest.' ~V_

At the bell, Veronica tucked the post-it note inside her copy of _Hamlet_. As students were filing out, Veronica angled herself at the edge of the pack. Unfortunately, Josh did as well. He brushed close to Veronica as they were walking out, and Veronica saw Logan's jaw clench.

"See ya later, Jennie," he said seductively, or as seductively as an eighteen year old with an over-inflated ego can manage, as he sauntered out the door. Logan turned away to shuffle around some papers on his desk.

"Mr. Stone?" Veronica called, with a hint of desperation in her voice. "I just wanted to return your copy of _Hamlet_. I purchased my own last night, so I can take notes in the margin," Veronica said with extra emphasis on the last half of her sentence, hoping Logan would catch her drift and read the message. She handed him the book, and he took it without expression as he muttered, "Yeah, thanks."


	13. Chapter 13

**Sorry for the long delay. I really hate that I stopped writing every night because I kind of lost my place in the story and had to reread everything I had written (you may have to as well because it has been so long since my last chapter), but I wrote myself into a corner and then got super overwhelmed with work. But a little time in the Caribbean and the news of a Veronica Mars movie may have recharged me! I am continuing to write but decided to post a short chapter until I am sure of where I am going with this! Hope you like it.**

**Chapter 13**

Veronica sprinted towards Logan's classroom, in eager anticipation of a note in return from Logan. It was killing her that after the connection they had made yesterday she was unable to freely talk to him…among other things. It also bothered her that he seemed perturbed by Josh's innocent flirtation with her; obviously he knew she was undercover and if she wanted to get info, she was going to have to play ball with the cool kids. Besides, it's not like she would have any real interest in an eighteen year old student, even if he looked like he could be the newest black and white chiseled face for an Abercrombie and Fitch advertisement. _If Logan found out that I actually have a boyfriend in Virginia, let alone that boyfriend is the team lead who assigned me to this case as an undercover teen, I reckon he's gonna be more than a little envious…_

She entered cautiously, looking around for Logan, but there was no sign of him. _Must be in the dark room, _Veronica deduced. Just even having the words dark room float through her subconscious brought her back to the compromising position, er positions, she had found herself in yesterday. The memory of Logan's tongue sliding effortlessly into her mouth and caressing her own tongue while his fingertips familiarly found their way back to her overly sensitive and erect nipples right through her thin t-shirt and underpadded bra made her feel like she needed to change her panties. She fanned herself, without thinking, and almost laughed to herself. She needed to cool herself down before one of her classmates figured out she was hot for teacher. She flung her bag on the table and got right to work by signing out a Nikon camera from the shelf. _Perfect excuse to be all up in people's business with a telescopic lens…_

Logan emerged from the darkroom, and of all the students in the room, his eyes found hers immediately. His expression was fairly unreadable – it could be saying 'I want to take you into this dark room and bend you over the counter' or it could be saying 'Yesterday was the biggest mistake of my adult life which I regret immensely.' With Logan_Stone _it was hard to tell because she couldn't outright ask him. Logan _Echolls_ would have shared his unsolicited opinion with a tree. She thought back to the night of the Sadie Hawkins dance when she had stumbled upon Logan ensnared in a conversation with the too-chatty-for-her-own-good Gia Goodman. Gia had asked Logan to be brutally honest about what he'd thought of her, and Veronica knew all too well that Logan would be _brutal. _She had pulled him away from Gia and onto the dance floor out of kindness to Gia, who really did have a good heart even though she had a twisted, pervy father. But the joke had been on her because the deejay switched it up to a slow song right when they'd taken the floor, and although she and Logan weren't in a good place at the time, they ended up swaying to the song in each other's arms. That was when things were less complex. Scrap that, with Logan, things had never been simple, but at least he was Logan Echolls and she was Veronica Mars. Now, he was Logan Stone, high school English teacher with a kid and a whole lotta baggage, and she was Jennie Kempner, a whole lotta fucked up.

Logan walked over to his desk, the copy of _Hamlet _in his hands. He dropped it in front of her. "You left this behind this morning." Veronica snatched it up quick, although there wasn't a single person in this class who had also been in her AP English class and knew that that was a bold-faced lie. Although Veronica was dying to read the note, she knew she couldn't risk reading it there in class. She had to start thinking more with her brain and focusing less on the sensation of the nerve-endings throughout every inch of her body.

"Mr. Stone, may I use the rest room?" she asked, there was a nervous edge, because she was really a bit intimidated by what the responding note might say. And there was a good chance if it was negative that she might not even be able to return to class.

"Sure, fill out your planner and I'll sign it," he said with a knowing glance.

Once she was en route to the bathroom, she realized that she could hear her pulse in her ears. Although it took every ounce of patience she had, she waited til she was safely in the stall before she tore open the book and found the pale yellow post-it. Scrawled in Logan's too neat for a guy handwriting it read:

_'The pic Jakey was referring to was from Halloween our freshman year of college. We were dressed as Meg and Jack from the White Stripes. I keep it tucked away in a book in my nightstand. Yes, I still look at it from time to time, and think about you. And wonder what I did to push you away all those years ago. PS – Josh? Really? He might look like DK, but he's more of a Mercer. Be careful."_

Veronica clutched the small yellow post-it in her hands and drew it up to her heart. On one hand, she felt her spirits lift skyward at the thought of Logan holding onto a picture of the two of them from college and looking at it from time to time. He kept it buried in a book in his nightstand. _That must mean something, right? _She also considered his warning and felt foolish for projecting her own envy of the hordes of girls who had teacher-worship for Logan and mistaking his anger earlier that morning for jealousy when it was really only concern for her well-being. She tore a post-it note off the top of the stack and started a response back to him, which proved to be disconcerting, not only because she had to think carefully of the meaningful words to place on the three inch by three inch sticky note but also because she was trying to hover at least a foot off of the toilet seat beneath her.

She wrote: _'If you can get Aimee to babysit tonight, please meet me in the parking lot of the Sunset Cliffs apartment complex at eleven.' _Clear cut and to the point. They needed to talk, and Veronica was sure the only way they'd be able to, bug-free, was if they met somewhere private outside of school hours.

Veronica headed back to class and dropped the book discreetly on Logan's desk as he engaging a group of students in an intense discussion about shutter speed. All eyes were glued to Logan as he spoke animatedly, making even the mundane sound like sketch comedy from Saturday Night Live. The bell rang, signally departure time, and before he could catch her in his sights, she was out the door, and he was forced to be sated with watching her diminishing backside as she wandered down the long corridor to meet Lily.


	14. Chapter 14

**Ah how I have missed writing this story! Thanks for sticking with me and for your words of encouragement. I had forgotten how much reviews make me smile (and think about how to improve my story)!**

**Chapter 14**

"Ready, chica?" Lily questioned with a mischievous grin.

"As I'll ever be," Veronica answered with an equal playfulness in her voice.

The two headed out to Veronica's bitchin' Sunfire and before jumping in, each girl deposited their bags into the backseat. Veronica adjusted her sunglasses and the radio at a low volume to satisfy the inquiring minds and eavesdropping ears of Bob and Tim as they pulled out of the Pan High student parking lot.

"Direct me, friend, as I know not where I go," Veronica quipped. Lily, with a flippant gesture, guided her to take a right-handed turn out of the parking lot.

"So Jennie, you have a boyfriend back home?" Lily asked, in what Veronica surmised was supposed to be a casual tone but sounded a lot like Veronica did when she was browbeating a perp.

"Maybe," Veronica shrugged, evasively. "Why do you ask? I didn't take you for that type of friend," she laughed.

"I dunno. Making conversation."

"I don't buy that for a second!"

"Well, maybe there happens to be a certain brown-haired, blue-eyed jock who has been asking me incessantly about your 'story' during senior math topics, ya know. So, que tal?"

"I was dating someone back home," Veronica improvised cautiously, "but, I am not sure what are status is now that I'm here, and he's _there_," Veronica mused, leaving things sort of up in the air. She wasn't sure how close she wanted to get to this certain brown-haired, blue-eyed jock, especially after Logan's warning. The last thing she needed was to wrap herself up in another case to solve, particularly a case that could involve GHB and a shaved head.

"Well, all I'm gonna say is, keep your options open because it could spell

p-r-o-m d-a-t-e."

_Sonuvabitch, no one said this investigation was going to include a spelling test._

"Ya think?"

"I'm going on more than just a hunch," Lily squealed with excitement. "And he's totally loaded, so no doubt you'll be riding to prom in style. And, if you _are_ riding to prom in a Lincoln Navigator stretch limo, just please promise me you won't forget all the little people who helped you along the way…And by little people, I mean me. You better score me an invite into that ride as well as the after party, otherwise there's a good chance I will be arriving at the prom via public transport and moonlight bowling after."

Veronica smiled to herself. _I may be past my high school prime but apparently, I've still got it. _No matter how low-key she tried to play things, she always seemed to end up in the back of a limo with a smoking hot date for a school dance. As she smiled at herself in the side mirror, her attention was alerted to something – the same motorcycle with flames up the sides had been behind her, at a far enough distance not to arouse the suspicion of a normal teenage girl, since she had exited the parking lot of Pan High. Was she being tailed?

For a second, her scattered mind wandered. Had Logan gotten his motorcycle license and decided to use this unexpected form of travel to follow her and ensure her safety while in the company of the horny and overly confident Josh? It was nearly impossible to detect the rider's identity because he had the good sense to don a helmet that completely concealed his head, with a mirrored visor over the eyes. Although she knew Logan to be a danger-loving, reckless badass, she didn't know him to relish the feeling of the wind through his hair or style himself in leather from head to toe.

Veronica decided to speed up to fifteen miles per hour above the speed limit to see if she could shake the assailant. She coasted through a yellow light, only to find that the motorcycle sped through what was for him already a red light.

_What the?_

Veronica noted a cross street approaching on the left, and without a blinker or any warning to Lily, she made a narrow sixty degree turn onto the road when she was well past the intersection, all with zero regard for properly signaling.

"Dang, Jennie, ya'll sure do drive differently up north! But, you're going the wrong way! You were supposed to keep going straight!" Lily said awestruck, but with slight admiration that she had managed to take such a reckless turn and not land them in a ditch on the side of the road. "Keep going down this road, but when you come up on Witmer Road, take a right to get you back to Main Street."

Veronica wasn't listening to Lily's navigational advice; she was too busy checking her review mirror to ensure that she had left the biker safely in the dust. The road was clear, aside from a large black Suburban behind her. _All that was for nothing. I need to chill. I'm going out for pizza, not registering for a drag race. I need to get my paranoia under control before Lily thinks I am a headcase who can't be trusted with information about her cousin's disappearance…_

"Shit!" There he was again, hiding himself behind the large SUV, driven by Mrs. Soccer Mom USA.

"What?" Lily exploded, now turning herself fully in the seat to look behind her. "Hey, turn here or you're going to completely drive by La Hacienda."

Again, Veronica, jerked the wheel sharply to get off the main road she was traveling on. The Suburban continued but not before the thirtysomething mom gave Veronica the one-fingered wave. The bike hung a right and was gaining speed.

"Jennie, slow the hell down! We're here, and you're gonna take out a full-bellied family of four if you don't let up on the gas pedal."

The sign for La Hacienda was flashing before Lily's words even registered. She slammed on the brakes while simultaneously careening the car into a parking spot. Gravel and a cloud of brown dust blew up around the car like a tornado, but Veronica had miscalculated the eye of the storm because the renegade biker peeled into the parking lot just as Veronica murmured, "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

Lily was already swinging her door open and putting her shaky legs to the ground before Veronica could warn her to stay put. The biker, still fully helmeted with the visor covering his eyes, was moving fast toward her car with a swagger that could cause fissures in the ground from the sheer force of his gait.

Veronica unlatched her seatbelt and turned to swing her door open and face the music…likely music of the Megadeth or Metallica variety, from a juiced up hot-headed biker with a penchant for stalking young girls…

"Uncle Eli?"

Veronica's head swung back so fast she felt like Willow Smith in the "Whip My Hair" video. What she saw was a slightly more worn around the eyes, massively more tattooed, but a decided same bald-headed Weevil glaring her down.

_Wait for it…_

"Lily, your little friend her musta skipped out on driver's ed!" he thundered, striding closer.

_Wait for it…_

"Kid, you tryin' to kill my niece, here?" And then more to himself, "Ain't it enough I got one niece missing, and now some crazy-ass 09er-looking bitch wants to kill the other…"

"Uncle Eli, relax! Jennie's new in town, and she got a little lost with where we were headed. It's my fault really; I should have been quicker with the directions." Veronica stood silently, leaning back against the car, nearly shrinking in fear. Not in fear of the big, bad Eli "Weevil" Navarro, but utter panic that her past was coming back to swallow her whole. She was so freaking close to getting information about Ophelia's disappearance, not to mention closer to something even more important – Logan, only to have her cover blown yet again. Shit, it was like a damn high school reunion, not a covert operation. Weevil had nearly closed the distance between them and was coming in for the kill.

_Wait for it…_

"Hey, Danica Patrick, you wanna be a part of Nascar, you're in the wrong fucking-" _Click_. Their eyes locked, and what was exchanged in that solitary stare was the beginning of a conversation, thankfully an internal dialogue that could not be heard by Bob and Tim.

"Lily, go inside right now," Weevil growled at his niece.

"Uncle Eli, stop! Are you trying to make me a social outcast?"

Veronica found her voice. "It's cool, Lil. I'll be right in." She knew her voice was shaking and desperately tried to steady it. "I'd actually love to check out your uncle's bike. It's pretty bad-ass. I used to have a friend back home with a bike kinda like that one, with uh, flames up the side. Yeah, he was in a biker gang back in Buffalo," she added, hoping that if she talked fast enough, she could fill the awkward silence before Weevil put his foot in his mouth and blew her cover. "Called the, um, Flamers."

Realizing how ridiculous she was beginning to sound, she quickly thrust her purse into her friend's arms. "Take this in and I'll be there in a sec." Lily looked reluctant and downright embarrassed, but when she realized that neither her new friend nor Weevil was backing down, she turned and tiptoed into the restaurant.

_Well that takes care of that little problem of friends with prying ears. Now to tame the lion. _

"Veronica fucking Mars," Weevil stated with a look of incredulity, like he was still trying to convince himself that she was here in the flesh.

"Well, Eli, although that has a certain ring to it, I am pretty sure my dad would never have let Lianne name me that no matter how plastered she was."

His eyes flashed, and the next thing she knew he had latched on to her arm just above her elbow like a pit bull and was hauling her toward his bike.

"What the fuck," he practically spat the words, "is going on right now?"

"Take it down a notch, old chum," Veronica fumed in hushed tones as she reclaimed her limb from his grasp. "Because you're putting your paws all over a federal agent. An agent who is coincidentally investigating the disappearance of your niece Ophelia. And, I am expecting that any second now, my back up is going to come flying into this parking lot, so let's calm down before you blow my cover."

"Your cover?" he snorted. "You're the same age as me; how the hell are you passing for a high school student?" _Wait for it…Click_. "Shit, you do still look prepubescent."

"Now, now, you know how the multi-syllabic words make you choke, and I am a little rusty on my Heimlich."

They locked eyes, and then there was the slightest of grins that toyed at Weevil's smirky lips.

"I sure have missed sparring with you, Mars. A quick wit and an even quicker tongue is hard to come by."

"Be real, Weevs, you never experienced the legendary Mars tongue, save your dreams."

He chuckled, looking ever so slightly wistful. "But, seriously, Vee? I feel a whole lot better knowing you're back in town. Fucking sheriff don't follow up on shit around here. I tried to reach out to your dad for some help, but he said a case like this was outta his realm, and he was best not to get in the way of the big investigation. Far as I can, no one's doin' jack shit to find my niece or any a them other girls."

Veronica spotted a green Suburu Forrester speeding down the road, followed by a grey Tahoe. "Listen, Weevil, I'm on it. And I promise I won't stop looking until we find out what's happened to Ophelia, but you can't tell Lily who I am. I need to spend a little more time inside Pan to see if I can dig up any dirt."

The Forrester pulled into the lot with the Tahoe close behind. She spotted Nancy at the wheel looking mighty pissed off. Veronica wiggled her fingers in a casual wave and smiled sheepishly. "Come on," she said to Weevil. "I'll introduce you to my new mommy."


	15. Chapter 15

**Special thanks to ShanghaiLily for catching my "blonde" moment in the last chapter! More LoVe moments to come!**

**Chapter 15**

Veronica was exhausted as well as famished by the time she actually made it into the brightly tiled and styled La Hacienda. It had taken nearly twenty minutes to assure Nancy that she was not in distress, and then once Weevil had taken off, she was pulled into the Forrester for a "chat", which was code-lingo for a verbal bitch-slapping by Nancy. It was worse than she'd ever been chastised by either one of her biological parents. Let's face it, her dad had too much respect for her and faith in her to ever really ream her out, and her mother was too pleasantly numbed by vodka to ever be anything but, well, pleasant albeit a little disoriented.

_"Mars, you're killing us here! When you pass off your wire and we can't hear your conversations, we have to assume that something has gone awry." Tim boomed over the walkie talkie that Nancy had in her hand. It sounded like Tim was shouting in her ear from the backseat of the SUV, though he was actually across the parking lot in the Tahoe. Veronica was starting to feel sweat pool beneath her arms, as she sat in the running car with all windows sealed up like a coffin and no working AC._

_"I'm sorry, guys. That was totally unexpected that her uncle was going to detain me and chew me for my erratic driving skills, which by the way, I thought would seem natural. I don't want to come off as a highly experienced driver when I'm only supposed to have been driving for a year or so. I wasn't even thinking when I handed my purse off to Lily that it would put you on alert-"_

_"Mars, I know I've got a fondness for you, but let me be frank – you haven't thinking clearly at all since we landed here in the Golden State." Bob stated plainly._

_"Yeah, yeah, I know! I'm sorry. But as stated, the situation is totally under control."_

_"It's far from under control, Veronica," Nancy whispered low enough so that it didn't pick up on the walkie-talkie._

_"Well, it's gonna be under control, Mars." Bob chuckled cynically. "Because tomorrow, you're gonna have a new bug. You know that sexy little black lace bra you wear?" _Jesus, do these two pervs raid my panty drawer for kicks while listening in on my dalliances as a high school student?_ "You can kiss your underwire buh-bye. It's going to be replaced with a new type of wire. The kind you can't really get away from unless you want to get the reputation of class slut."_

"Jennie!" Lily squealed, waving at her from the bright orange booth, flanked by a boy on either side of her. "Look who's here! It's Josh! And Jason!"

_Yes, anyone who has the gift of vision can see that, Lily. Thanks. _Veronica plastered a smile onto her face. "Awesome!" she mustered up the last ounce of enthusiasm she had left in the hollow depths of her former pep squad soul. She slid into the booth, and Josh took his cue to slide in next to her.

After two and a half hours of scintillating conversation about who was going to prom with who and who was hooking up with who (you would think it would be the same, but this was high school where next to nothing makes sense), Veronica was ready to call it a night.

"I really should get home soon, guys. My mom was not super thrilled about the fact that I didn't answer my phone earlier. She can be a little protective, with me being in a new place and all."

"Don't be embarrassed about your mom showing up here, Jennie. That's how families are. Just look at my Uncle Eli! And about that, Jennie, I am really sorry if he came on a little strong..." Lily's cheeks flushed as she recalled the image of her uncle dismounting his bike and storming towards the two girls as though he was ready to start kicking asses and taking names. "He's always been a tad overprotective, but with Ophelia's disappearance, it's like something snapped inside him," Lily dropped her voice a bit and glanced sidelong at Jason and then at Josh and her, as though she were about to confide something huge. "I think he follows me home from school every day just to make sure nothing happens to me. Probably because school was the last place Ophelia was seen."

Veronica pursed her lips, thinking about how to begin her line of questioning about Ophelia so as to appear nonchalant and unrehearsed.

"Yeah didn't she run off with that greaseball Yamil?" Josh prodded without even a hint of sensitivity or subtlety.

"I heard she was knocked up and was too scared to tell anyone in your family about her little 'situation'," Jason added casually as though he were talking about tomorrow's weather forecast.

"Shit, I would be too!" Josh snorted and then looked back at Lily, "I heard your uncle Eli has beat three murder charges because the DA is too scared to even consider prosecuting him. Vato probably sent her off with whatever money he had saved in his sock drawer so he didn't have to deal with any baby mama drama or an ass-whooping from good 'ol Uncle Eli."

"Yeah, I wouldn't worry about her too much, babe. Once things are taken care of, she'll come back home. People will probably always make assumptions about her, but ya know, no one will ever really have to know. She can save face that way," Jason finished arrogantly.

Lily's jaw just about hit the table and her eyes literally changed color with fury like the vampire characters from those Twilight movies.

_Thanks, asswipes. I should just pack up now and head back to Virginia because you two morons clearly have it all figured out. I'm sure Lily will be dying to continue this fun little conversation now that you two insensitive pricks have weighed in._

"Excuse me," Lily all but pushed Jason out of the booth so she could make her way to the bathroom before the waterworks spilled down her cheeks. With her eyes all glassy from the impending tears and with her head bent low, Lily didn't see the nerdy hunched over figure turning from the counter with a tray full of pizza slices and a large fountain drink. The collision happened so fast; the aftermath was a pepperoni and cheese slice stuck to the front of Lily's shirt, ice and soda splattered across the tiled floor, and the entirety of the cup dumping down the front of the young man's dress shirt.

"Oh my God, Mr. Finch, I am so sorry," Lily apologized, sobbing, losing the battle with her inner turmoil. "My aunt will refund your meal and replace your order," she cried as she sprinted toward the restroom without looking back.

The stunned wannabe Lothario student teacher, Mr. Finch, looked shocked but recovered quickly and returned to the counter. Quickly, an older woman from the back made her way from behind the counter with a mop and bucket to clean up the mess on the floor. Veronica was so stunned by the turn of events that she was frozen to her seat. There was a fleeting thought that she should go check on Lily, but that thought was interrupted by the raucous laughter coming from the two dipshits seated with her.

"Was it something I said?" Jason guffawed.

Veronica turned a steely gaze back to the two boys, and she literally had to remind herself that they were teenagers so she didn't kill them.

"Seriously though, Jennie, I need to ask you something while I have you alone," Josh said, trying to wipe all traces of mirth from his expression as he was trying to broach a more serious topic. "I didn't want to ask you this with Lily around because she clearly has a little unrequited adoration for Jason, and I don't want to make her feel bad-" he droned on in a self-assured tone.

_You don't want to make her feel bad so you and your boy insinuate that her missing fourteen cousin got knocked up and had to leave town? Damn, this guy is really looking to get decked right now because I really don't think I am going to like what comes out of his mouth next._

"So since Tina and I broke up last week, and I know you don't have a date because you're new and all, we should definitely go to prom together. It is going to be tight! I've got a-"

Veronica could only take so much, as she had proven time and time again. Whether it was putting a bully in place for teasing a girl who had lost her dog or belittling a frat brother for being a tool, Veronica had a low tolerance for people's bullshit, and when people weren't able to stick up for themselves, Veronica christened herself as a champion of the underdog. The speech had been brewing up inside her for some time now, and Josh's arrogance brought it right to the surface like hot lava.

"Stop!" Veronica put her hand up to silence Josh from making an even bigger ass of himself than what he'd already accomplished in ten short minutes. "In what parallel universe would _I_ go to prom with that biggest tool I've ever met? Seriously, what are you smoking? Lily is in the bathroom crying her eyes out because of the slanderous picture you just painted of Ophelia."

"Whoa, Jennie, relax! I wasn't trying to hurt Lily's feelings; I just call them like I see 'em. And to be honest, I was trying to make Lily feel _better_ actually. She shouldn't be worrying that her cousin is dead when the truth of the matter is, she could just be a slut. It literally happens all the time here," Josh explained, as though he were talking to a small Pomeranian.

"Here in Pan, that old cliché, 'you can take a girl out of the trailer park, but you can't take the trailer park out of the girl', really rings true," Jason sneered.

"News flash, nimrods, there are six girls missing. Do you expect me to believe that all six left the area without a word to their families because they were trying to hide unwanted pregnancies? I don't need a statistics class to tell me that the odds of that are ridiculous!"

"Since you're new the area, I don't expect you to get it, _Jen_." Josh snapped back, without even an attempt to hide the condescending tone that had crept into his voice. "But let's face facts, we have a 89% graduation rate here at Pan. When you move from our zip code to the barrio, well," Josh shrugged, folding his arms as though he were delivering his closing argument, "that where's the missing 11% usually turn up."

Hoping he was making his case but unable to read the dubious expression on her face for what it was truly worth, Josh attempted to adopt a more sincere tone. "I'm not trying to be an ass or come across as classist or racist, but _those_ kids don't have the same advantages as we do. Aside from Lily, and only because she's kinda cute and in mostly advanced level classes, I couldn't tell you any of _those_ kids' names, because they don't stick around along for the high school experience to even register as a blip on my radar."

"You know what? _I_ would prefer to drop off your radar altogether. You're an asshole, a discredit to the human race. I'd call you a cockroach, but I am pretty sure that would be an insult to the species."

Josh and Jason adopted faces not dissimilar to the expression of a ten-year old MacCaulay Culkin post-aftershave in _Home Alone. _

"So, here's a little piece of advice for the two of you…Get up now, grab your things, pay the check and leave at least a 30% tip, and get the hell out of here before Lily comes out of the bathroom, or I am going to share the details of this conversation with her uncle Eli. And after that, who knows? Maybe I'll be seeing your handsome mugs on the side of a milk carton next."

Jason and Josh looked at one another, shot Veronica a look of disgust, then snatched up the bill and wordlessly exited the booth.

Lily eventually emerged from the bathroom, and Finch, who had parked himself in the small two-top table closest to the restroom jumped up to speak with her. Although Veronica was too far away to hear the brief exchange, Veronica could tell from the slight unassuming smile on Lily's face and the quick touch of his fingers to her forearm that he was checking in with her to make sure she was okay. _He may be a bit of a dweeb but at least he has compassion, which is more than can be said for the two douche bags who upset her in the first place. _

When Lily returned to the table, it was nearly eight-thirty, and Veronica's feigned wave of tiredness had been replaced by a massive onslaught of adrenaline. She only hoped that the subject of Ophelia wasn't closed for Lily.

"So, they're gone?" Lily surmised, waving her open palm toward the empty seats.

"Yeah, I told them it was past their bedtimes, considering the fact that they just acted like two kindergartners. I am really sorry about that, Lily. It was rude and uncalled for. You know Ophelia better than anyone, and it's not right for people who clearly didn't know her to make assumptions about her."

"Can't say I blame them. It certainly sounds like a much more plausible scenario than a kidnapping, I guess. And they're definitely not the first ones to allude to an unwanted pregnancy. Even the local sheriffs questioned my Aunt Yelizabeth about the possibility of that. They took one look at her, barely thirty, and figured the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

"But what do you think, Lily?" Veronica probed as she took Lily's small quaking hand in her own.

"I just don't buy it. Ophelia confided everything in me. Stuff she would never dream of telling her mom or anyone else. I know she wasn't having sex; she was too scared to even use a tampon, for goodness sake! I mean, she's fourteen! It's not like it doesn't happen, I know. I'm not that naïve. But, although she may have had the beginnings of womanly curves and was starting to wear make-up, she would still try to get me to play with Barbies every once in a while. Something about that theory just feels wrong."

_But just because she may not have been ready for sex doesn't mean that it didn't happen. I know that better than anyone after waking up the morning after Shelly Pomeroy's party wondering where my virginity was._

"Who is Yamil?"

"Ay Dios mio! And that!" Lily exclaimed, shaking her head in disgust. "Yamil drove Ophelia home from school on the days that I had shifts here immediately after school so she wouldn't have to ride the bus when I couldn't drive her home. Guys like Josh and Jason see that, and they assume she must be giving him something in return. He's our second cousin for Christ sakes!"

"Ah, I see. I know how brutal the rumor mill can be," Veronica murmured, thinking back to her own days in high school. And at the mention of alleged incestuous relations, a repressed image of her first time with Duncan resurfaced, at a time when he and then she had believed they could be siblings. Yuck. Whoever said that high school was the best time of your life certainly had graduated neither from Neptune nor Pan High.

"What can you tell me about the other girls who have gone missing in the past year?"

"Kalicha Candelario went missing in October. No one thought much of it because she had been talking since last year about dropping out and moving to Miami to pursue a modeling career. Nieliz Robles was reported missing on Thanksgiving Day. Her family lives just a few doors down from me. She was a pretty good student and she comes from a good family. Her mom was so distraught but the police kept saying that kids consider the night before Thanksgiving as some kind of alcohol-infused holiday. They kept insisting that Nieliz would turn up once she had slept off her hangover. But she never did, and they waited forty-eight hours to file it as a missing persons case."

"But she was a minor?"

Lily nodded consent.

"That's really not protocol." Lily stared blankly. "I mean," Veronica said, backpedaling, "I watch a lot of Law and Order SVU, and I think they are supposed to proceed with cases of missing children differently than they would adults."

"Yeah probably. But around here, what they might consider protocol in a white neighborhood is different from how it would be treated in mostly brown neighborhoods. Jewel Colon disappeared six days before Christmas, and it wasn't even treated like a missing persons case. They said she was skipping town to avoid being charged with petty larceny. She apparently shoplifted some gifts for her little brothers to make sure Santa wasn't absent on Christmas like her deadbeat dad. And Jeneliz Vega? They made her to be a whack job. She protested the Student Council Valentine's Day flower sale because it was a "disgusting exploitation of a Hallmark holiday" and girls who didn't receive a carnation from their one true high school love would spend the entire day moping and bingeing on Hershey's kisses. They said her blog suggested there was a reason to believe she may have committed suicide."

Veronica sighed and brought her hands steepled to her mouth. The picture painted by Lily was more telling than the case files she had on the missing girls. The county could elect a hundred new sheriffs but each and every one knew that the key to reelection was not chasing down runaways or throwaways from the poorest section of town.

"The only one who has gotten any major media attention was Carrie Lincoln, and that's because she's not brown. Listen, I didn't mean to depress the shit out of you, Jennie. This is heavy conversation for girl talk on a Tuesday night. I really wanted to have a night out to take my mind off of all of this, but clearly my choice of social circle, present company excluded has drowned any hope of that."

"Lily, there are two types of people in this world – people who matter and people who don't. It may seem like it's hard to distinguish between the two right now because you're young and so much of what you weigh importance upon is based on what others think. But close your eyes and envision yourself at twenty-five. Zoom in a little bit, and who do you see in the background, cheering on your successes? And who did you leave as a distant memory in the rearview mirror the second you graduated from Pan? If you see them in your future and not as a fleeting face in the crowd, focus on those people, because they're the ones who truly matter."

"Jennie Kempner, I don't know what they put in the water back in Buffalo, but you are wise beyond your years. Thanks for being a good friend."

_Wise beyond my years, huh? Nope, I am twenty-five and am no closer to figuring out my life – who matters and who doesn't. But, I suppose if I tell you to do the exact opposite of what I did that couldn't hurt either._


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Veronica returned back to the Camelot around nine-thirty to shower quickly before she met up with Logan. What she found was a more-pregnant-by-the-hour Nancy curled up on her head watching an irate Judge Judy on the small tv while popping Cheetos into her mouth.

"Isn't there a ban on Cheetos for mommies to be?" Veronica laughed as she tossed her bag onto the chair next to the door.

"Nope, that would be deli meats and soft cheeses. This," she said as she held up a Cheeto and inspected it critically, "most definitely contains nothing resembling real cheese."

Veronica laughed and headed toward the bathroom, turning the left faucet on as far as it would turn to blast scalding hot water and an all-enveloping shroud of steam.

"Don't try to pacify me with talk about junk food either, Mars," Nancy called from the next room. "Get your ass out here and explain yourself."

Veronica reappeared, shrugging her shoulders, and doing her best to adopt a 'who, me?' look that was sure to fool no one before retreating to the bathroom and stepping into the shower.

Moments later… "Hey, Mars?" Nancy's voice drifted into her serene haven of the shower from the other side of the curtain, causing Veronica to nearly slice her vein with the razor poised between her fingers as she was shaving her legs.

"I just want to you to know, I understand where you're coming from with all these little oopsies of accidentally on purpose leaving your wire conveniently out of earshot when a figure from your past pops up unexpectedly. But Bob and Tim are losing patience. They think you're doing this as a way to claim credit for the dirt you unearth about the case. We've all seen agents like this before, you know. Overzealous types who want to horde the spotlight for bringing down potentially major operations. I know that's not the case, but it's hard to reassure them when you're acting like so secretive."

"I know, Nance. And for the record, I was the one most opposed to going undercover from the beginning. I told Matt it was a bad idea, but he pushed for it and I couldn't really say no."

"Because you're sleeping with him."

"Jesus!"

"I think we both know _he's_ got nothing to do with this, Mars."

Veronica pushed the water out of her eyes and pulled back the curtain slightly to get a better look at Nancy. Was she confirming a suspicion, or did she actually know something?

"Yeah, I figured it out. See, Tim went bitching to him about how you're putting us all in 'compromising positions'. Matt, of course, defended you, praising your investigative instincts and talking about trusting you implicitly, despite your rookie mistakes. And that's when I figured out that the ones in 'compromising positions' were you and him."

Veronica reached for her towel, feeling more exposed than ever, while the word "deny, deny, deny" was thundering through her ears like a steady pulse. Once the towel was wrapped securely around her, she pulled the curtain back and stepped out of the shower. She lightly grasped Nancy's slender shoulders and looked her square in the eye. "You have quite the overactive imagination. Is that what's referred to as pregnancy brain?" And with that, in one swift motion, she turned Nancy around, guided her out the door, and shut and locked it so she could dry her hair in peace.

Twenty minutes later, Veronica emerged from the bathroom to find Nancy still nestled up on her bed. "Are you going somewhere?" Nancy probed as Veronica grabbed her car keys.

"Nothing gets by you."

"Damn straight."

"Yes, Mother. I am going for a drive."

"At this hour? On a school night? Tomorrow's moving day!" Nancy wailed. "Where are you going?"

"I took in a lot of information tonight. I need to try to process it."

"Well, then let's talk it through together!"

"Nancy, no offense, but before I can talk, I need to sort through it on my own. I need to replay the conversation in my head, remember facial expressions, subtle nuances, to see if there is anything I may have missed the first time around. I promise, if something stands out, I will be banging on your door in an hour, and we can talk until the sun comes up. But for right now, I need a little "Vee" time."

Nancy's eyes narrowed. "I suppose you're not taking your wire?"

"Why would I? There's nothing to hear; I'm not getting out of my car. I'll have my phone if you need to reach me."

"Right…" Nancy droned as she tossed her jacket around her shoulders. "Tell Logan your mother expects you home before midnight."


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Veronica hadn't been lying to Nancy entirely. She had driven around for about forty-five minutes to try to get some perspective on the case. Unfortunately, her perspective only led her to more puzzling questions. Questions she was sure to unload on Logan, despite the fact that she knew he would have many questions of his own. She sat nervously fiddling with the radio as she waited in the parking lot of her old apartment complex. She thought the familiar surroundings would put her at ease, but judging by the way she nervously changed the station before any song – good or bad – had played for any longer than fifteen seconds, saying she was apprehensive was a generous understatement. She didn't even know for sure that Logan was going to show up, but it didn't make her hands shake any less.

_Get it together, Mars. You asked him here in the first place_! But now that that the moment was upon her, she had no idea what she was going to say to him. What was there to say? He wanted to know why she had left him seven years ago. Good question. All of her well-rehearsed reasons had evaporated along with her common sense.

It was now ten after eleven, and for the third time tonight, she held her breath when she saw headlights in her rearview mirror. The headlights grew closer, but slowly, as if the driver was contemplating throwing the car into reverse and peeling back out of the lot. Next to her pulled up a sleek black Land Rover.

It was Logan behind the wheel, and every inch of that heartbreakingly beautiful face was brooding; his mood looked dark yet vulnerable. He tipped his head slightly to motion that she should come over into his truck. She quickly scrambled out of the small Sunfire and with a quick glance over each shoulder, darted around to the passenger seat of his vehicle.

"Hey," she said softly with a shy smile as she closed the door. "You came."

He nodded, but said nothing. He kept his eyes trained forward, looking straight through the windshield. It was almost as if he were silently repeating a mantra in the confines of his head: _I will not let her fuck me up again. I will not let her fuck me up again. I will NOT let her fuck me up again. _Then he turned to look at her, his eyes full of emotions – desire, vulnerability, and a hint of fear. "Did you ever think for even a second that I wouldn't?"

Veronica filled the silence that was heavy with sexual tension with the only thing she trusted herself to talk about – work. "Logan, can I ask you a couple questions about the disappearances?"

"Yeah, sure," Logan said, clearing his throat and quickly averting his eyes from hers. He ran a hand through his hair and then looked back at her. The intensity behind his eyes had dropped so fast there was almost a palpable chill in the air. "What's up?"

"When you said Josh is more of a 'Mercer' than a 'Duncan', what did you mean by that? Do I have any reason to keep my eye on Josh or his merry band of assholes?"

"Earlier this year a girl confided in me that Josh took things a little farther than she would've liked them to go at a party. The girl said that Josh and his friends were basically feeding her shots. Later that night when he'd offered to drive her home, he got aggressive when he was 'saying goodnight'. He didn't rape her, but she felt like if she hadn't gotten loud and started physically pushing him off of her, he definitely was not going to listen to her verbal pleas to stop. She told me about it because in order to drop an advanced placement class part way through the year, you need the instructor of that class to sign off on the paperwork for the guidance department. I tried to talk Jeneliz into staying in the class, but she was adamant. Said he was making her life a living hell."

"Jeneliz Vega, one of the missing girls?"

"Yeah," he responded, looking deeply troubled.

"Logan, did you report this to anyone?"

"Yes, Veronica, of course. Because I'm not a moron."

"I don't recall hearing that Josh was ever even brought in for questioning. I'm not sure how it would fit in with the other girls, but it's something. From what Weevil's said, it doesn't sound like the local authorities have a firm handle on this case. If they bungled a chance-"

"Weevil? There's a name that if I never heard it again it would be soon. You're just picking back up right where you left off, huh?"

_What, straddling the fine line between the 09ers and the PCHers? Was that a hint of jealous I detect? Or maybe that's just the sound of my own wishful thinking. _

"Do you think Josh could be responsible for the disappearance of Jeneliz?" Veronica probed, trying to focus Logan's attention back toward the case.

Logan let out a long breath, thinking for a moment before he responded. "I don't know. I mean, I guess anything's possible. He obviously had a motive to want to harm her. She was a liability to his reputation. Josh is Pan's golden boy – a high school quarterback from a good family, with a full ride to Stanford next year to play football for the Cardinals. For anyone who crosses him, it's pretty much social suicide, and he was particularly cruel to Jeneliz after-" Logan gestured and then turned to look carefully at the faint alarm dancing in Veronica's big blues eyes.

"What?"

"Well, after tonight I may get a taste of Josh's nasty streak myself," she said quietly, and then smiled at Logan. "It's a good thing really," she winked. "Draw the bear out of hibernation." Logan looked uncomfortable but said nothing.

"Still," Veronica said after a few moments of silence, "I have a hard believing Josh is behind the disappearances of all six girls. He doesn't seem…"

"Smart enough for that?" Logan supplied.

"Smart enough not to get caught. And if we are still working under the belief that these disappearances are related, it just doesn't seem to fit. Aside from Jeneliz, where's the motive? A kid like Josh has a lot of lose. Is he a prick? Most definitely! Is he a sociopath? I just don't see it," Veronica concluded with a shrug. "Definitely gonna keep my eye on him though."

The faint strums of a guitar played through the speakers, playing a heartbreakingly haunting melody. Logan cleared his throat again. "Is there anything else, Veronica? It's late and I don't like to be away long in case Jake needs me," Logan asked, his voice husky.

Something in his tone struck a chord with her. There was an unmistakable sadness, or maybe it was just the song. He moved to turn the volume down, but she caught his hand in mid-motion, grasping his wrist. "Don't. I like this song."

Veronica settled back into her seat, completely turned to face Logan, never taking her eyes or hand off his.

_It's almost you had it planned  
It's like you smiled and shook my hand and said,  
"Hey. I'm about to screw you over big time."  
And what was I supposed to do?  
I was stuck in between you and a hard place  
We won't talk about the hard place._

But I don't blame you anymore  
That's too much pain to store  
It left me half-dead inside my head  
And boy, looking back I see  
I'm not the girl I used to be  
When I lost my mind, it saved my life.

The song was like a conversation back and forth between them like a ping pong ball, yet all the while Veronica met Logan's eyes, unwavering, unblinking, and full of wonder for what could've been. What could still be?

Logan murmured, "Pretty sad love song."

"Nobody writes songs about the ones that come easy," Veronica whispered.

With his voice barely above a whisper, he asked the one question Veronica knew he would – short and to the point – "Why did you go?"

"I don't know, I couldn't deal, I guess," she responded lamely, hoping that he'd be satisfied with the abridged version of her logic.

"I told you, any time you needed space I would give it to you. I meant it."

_It's how you wanted it to be  
It's like you played a joke on me  
And I've lost a friend in the end.  
And I think that I cried for days  
But now that seems light years away  
And I'm never going back to who I was_

'Cuz I don't blame you anymore  
That's too much pain to store  
It left me half-dead inside my head  
And boy, looking back I see I'm not the girl I used to be  
When I lost my mind, it saved my life.

"We tried to make it work, Logan. At least four times. If it was meant to be, why did we have to try to so hard to pick up the pieces every time? I loved you, I really did. But we just kept hurting each other, each time worse than the time before, and then running back to each other. It was too intense. I guess I just knew one day the damage was going to be completely irreparable."

"Yeah, and you leaving didn't just about break my heart, right?" The look in his eyes was downright tortured. _It was the same for me! _She screamed on the inside. _And the look on your face right now is twisting the knife a little deeper. But we tried to make it work, and time and time again, it didn't. _Their relationship was like a body of scars. You cover them with layers and layers of clothes. But underneath the scars would always be there.

_I think I cried for days  
But now that seems light years away  
And I'm never going back to who I was_

"I'm sorry, Logan. I truly am. I should have said goodbye. I should have told you why I had to go. I should have tried to make you understand." Her words came out in quick bursts with such force, and the tears slid down her face easily. She could count the number of times she had cried in the past six years on one hand, but the depth of the emotions she was feeling made her feel raw and exposed, and utterly contrite.

_'Cuz I don't blame you anymore  
That's too much pain to store  
It left me half-dead inside my head  
And boy, looking back I see I'm not the girl I used to be  
When I lost my mind, it saved my life._

Logan reached out a thumb tenderly and lightly traced the course of her tears down her face. They stared at each other like that for a long time before he said, "I forgive you, Ronnie."_  
_  
_That life seems like light years away  
Light years away  
And that life seems like light years away  
Light years away_

With her head cradled between his hands, Logan closed the space between them until he was within mere inches from her lips. "I know it's probably too soon to talk about, but I feel compelled to ask, because," he broke off searching her face. "Well, it's not just me I have to think about. I want you to be able to spend some time with me…and Jake…after all of this is over with. I need to know. Is there any chance that you might stick around here after the investigation? Or are you going to run away again?"

Veronica responded in the only way she knew how. Wrapping her arms around his neck and resting her forearms on his broad and steady shoulders, she brought up her lips up to his lightly stubbled face and traced the contours of his jaw line with the gentleness of a butterfly's fluttering wings. She felt a shudder move through his body, but he remained frozen in his seat, waiting to see what her next move would be.

She knew it wasn't really an answer to his question, but there was no turning back. Her mouth found his way to his, desperately, full of need, like the balance of the world rested in this kiss. And when their lips touched, it was like a jolt of electric current through both of their bodies. It was like no time had ever passed between them. There was not even a world that existed outside of the four doors of that SUV.

For a long time they held that position, him kissing her tenderly, not rushing, and her responding back to his kisses, like she was sealing a promise with her actions. Her hands were like a vise grip on his neck, unable to ease up because she was afraid if she let go again, she might really lose him forever, when she'd only just found him again. He gently lifted her tiny body, coiled with tension and fierce self-restraint, onto his lap and she spread her knees apart so she was straddling him. He rested her lightly against the steering wheel and resumed kissing her so gently, so sweetly, exploring every inch of her exposed body with his achingly soft lips, bringing her to brink of ecstasy. She groaned softly and let her head roll to one side, but even in the heady haze of Logan's tongue caressing her neck and the confines of the steamed up Land Rover, she couldn't shut out the bright neon light of the radio clock.

Logan, noticing her distraction, stopped the agonizing assault on her body and chuckled a low and throaty laugh. "You looked at the time, didn't you?"

"Busted," Veronica smiled coyly.

"It's late. We both have early mornings tomorrow. And I really don't want to rekindle our flame in the backseat of my car."

"That's not the Logan Echolls, I remember," Veronica laughed, righting her bra beneath her shirt and adjusting her top. "If I were rolling around in a dumpster, I am pretty sure he would've dove in after and defiled me right there on the spot."

"I'm a classier guy now," he said with a smile, lightly kissing her forehead.

"You know what they say – teachers have _class._" There was a brief pause where they sat looking at one another before they both broke up in a fit of giggles. "Sorry, I couldn't resist! Mr. Wu had a plaque on his desk that said that line, and I have literally been waiting close to a decade to be able to use that line."

"Speaking of teaching though, as in my license, my profession, and my livelihood, we've really got to be careful, Veronica. It's getting harder and harder to treat you like every other student. Last night I had a dream that I slipped up and called you 'Bobcat' in the middle of first period."

Veronica stifled a laugh when she saw his earnest look.

"Got it, Mr. Stone," Veronica said teasingly, pretending to pull out a notepad and pen from her bra. "No more mini skirts. No more garter belts. And definitely no more black lacy thongs peeking out from underneath my low-rise jeans."

"Is that what's under here," Logan quipped as he tugged at her waist band, while Veronica swatted his hand away, playfully. "But promise me two things, Mars."

Veronica's heart thumped wildly in her chest.

"Promise me," he said, lightly punctuating his words with a quick, chaste kiss on her lips, "that combat boots don't make an appearance again in your wardrobe, or I won't be able to restrain myself from pulling you back into that dark room."

"Mmmhmmm, got it," Veronica moaned, dropping her lips onto his and letting his tongue dart into his mouth. The obvious effect she had on him turned her on and made her feel alive in ways she never thought possible.

"And?"

"And, promise me, when this is all over…"

Again, her heart was beating rapidly. _What ifs _pounded through her ears like a record skipping over and over again. She would promise him the world, but she was too terrified that she wouldn't be able to deliver. What was truly different now than what had been six years ago? She lived across the country and was married to her job, a job she was good at, despite how jaded and empty that career had left her. And he had a son; he was a family man now. If he couldn't handle the dangerous situations she had been herself back in high school, he was definitely not going to be any more okay with it now. Making promises of any kind was a bad idea, at least while things were so complicated.

He curled a loose tendril of her dark hair around his finger. "Promise me that this hair goes back to blonde. Because blondes really do have more fun, baby."

**It took forever to write and if I continue to endlessly revise it, it will never get published. Sorry to leave you on angsty/uncertain tone. More excitement to come :)**


	18. Chapter 18

**I can't tell you how much your feedback has meant to me. Every time I think I have written myself into a corner, I get some really insightful reviews and it gives me the motivation to keep going and let the story take different directions from what I initially had planned. **

**Chapter 18**

_What the hell am I doing? _Veronica fumed at herself as she drove back to the Camelot, her domicile for one more night, taking her aggression out on both the steering wheel and the gas pedal.

_I'm playing with fire, and if I'm not careful, both of us are gonna get burned. _Kissing him when she should have been honest about her fears was a selfish move on her part. _So why'd I do it? _Veronica asked herself the millionaire dollar question. _Because I love him. _

As the realization sank in, she knew in her heart that after all these years Logan had never stopped loving her, and although she had put six states between them, she had never stopped loving him either. She wanted to jump off a couch like Tom Cruise and proclaim her love for him.

_Could this really work? _All she had wanted from Logan when they were in high school was for him to grow up, get his shit together, and tone down his inner 'psychotic jackass', and that was exactly what he'd done. She didn't know how a relationship could work with such a distance between them, considering the demands of her job and his son Jake, but everything within her screamed that she wanted to try to figure it out. None of it mattered, not their past – their miscommunications, other lovers, his father – _Because our love is. Epic._

She had been through too many near misses with Logan to know that the ball was in her court. She reached down to her bag on the seat next to her for her phone. She felt an urgency to call Matt immediately and tell him that their relationship was over. If they were both being honest, it had been from the day she had set foot in Pan High and he'd stayed in Virginia. But she needed to break things off so she could have a fresh start with Logan, even if they couldn't really pursue a chance at their relationship until after she had completed her assignment. Fumbling around in her purse, she realized in her rush to get out of the room and escape Nancy's questioning, she'd left her phone behind.

_It's going to be three o'clock in the morning back east, but I've got to do this, now, _she thought to herself as she pulled into the dimly lit parking lot of the Camelot. _Fingers crossed for an amicable breakup. _She slipped her key in the door and turned it slowly, as she thought back to her thirty minutes of bliss with Logan. It was like endorphins were doing a conga line through her brain, and she couldn't wipe the ridiculous grin off her face.

When she stepped into the room, she felt something – something was off. Nothing was moved, nothing was amiss. But then she spotted it – a gun on the nightstand.

"Hey baby, you're back." Matt sauntered out of the bathroom, looking rumpled from travel in his wrinkled white dress shirt and loosened grey tie. "I was starting to get a little concerned. Nancy said you'd gone for a drive to think about the case, and I tried your cell about half dozen times to see if you wanted to run through it together."

"Matt, what are you doing here?" Veronica was dazed and slightly sick. She wanted to talk, but she didn't expect him to be waiting in her room when she got home. It was going to be challenging to 'let him down easy' when he by the looks of it, he had settled in and was planning to stay the night.

"Glass of wine?" he called over his shoulder as he walked toward the kitchenette, ignoring her question.

_Wine – it's liquid and it's courage – it's liquid courage. _"Yeah, sure, a little. Listen, Matt," Veronica sighed as she crossed the room to sit at the small table near the door. "We've gotta talk. It's important."

"Yeah, I hear you've been following up on some _intriguing_ leads. I can't wait to hear-"

The deafening blare of a car alarm wailed just as flashing headlights shone through the picture window of the room. From the window she could see a figure ducked down next to her car. She squinted just as the yellowy light from the street lamp caught the face of her would-be car thief. _LOGAN?!_

Veronica sprang out of her chair, grabbing her keys to quickly disable the resounding alarm that up until now she didn't even know the car had. She burst through the heavy door just as Logan was sprinting up the steps.

"Hey," he whispered sheepishly. "Sorry about that. I was halfway home when I discovered this." He held up her small black cell phone. "I wasn't really sure how to get it back to you discreetly tomorrow in class, plus I figured you probably needed it, so I thought I'd run it by now."

Despite the alarm in her blue eyes, he continued to ramble, with that sweet, endearing trademark Logan smile. "I tried to just put it in your car, but, as you can see from all the bells and whistles, I didn't expect that shitty little-"

Realizing he had broken off mid-sentence, Veronica followed his gaze over her shoulder. Shock registered on his face before the words, "Logan, it's not what you think!" could even fully exit her mouth.

But his eyes were trained on Matt who was standing in the doorway, with nothing on but silk pajama pants and two wineglasses in his hands. "Mr. Stone, I presume? Or, should I call you Logan Echolls?"

Logan's eyes darted, questioning, from Veronica back to Matt and then back to Veronica. His gaze hardened on her, and she felt her face crumpled. He turned swiftly and thundered back down the staircase without another word.

"Logan, wait!" she called desperately after him, following him down the steps, taking two at a time. "Please, wait!" Her voice caught in her throat, coming out in a hoarse sob.

As he descended onto the pavement and tore across the parking lot, she closed the gap between them and reached out to grasp the sleeve of his jacket. He spun around to face her.

"What, Veronica? What do have to possibly say right now?" His voice dripped with pure venom.

_I love you. I need you. Don't leave me. _The words echoed in her brain, but they sounded so disingenuous, despite the truth they rang.

"What are you gonna tell me? He's your partner?" Logan snorted, using air quotes when he spat out the word _partner._

"No, he is – was – my boyfriend," Veronica murmured, hoping that she could make Logan understand that tonight he had woken up a passion inside her she didn't even know still existed, and although she had some issues to work out, she wanted to be with him more than anything.

"Oh yeah? Does he know that?" he said gesturing to the now closed motel room door. "Because he looked pretty damn comfortable up in your room right now!"

"I was planning to tell him tonight. Over the phone," she added, "But when I got back he was here."

"I can't believe a single word out of your mouth right now, Veronica. How does this guy even know who the hell I am?"

"Because he's a federal agent. He's the lead on this sting operation, but he's been overseeing the operation from Virginia the entire time. I'm guessing he's done a little investigating of his own."

"Oh, that's rich! He's your boss!" Logan was practically shouting now, looking every bit his former self, with that same deranged look he had when he'd bashed her headlights out with a crowbar. "You get off on sex with authority figures, is that it? Your boss, your "teacher"…Is this all just a game to you?

"Logan, please, I meant every word I said tonight, I just needed to-"

"Save it, Veronica. Save it for someone who gives a damn." Despite his bravado, his eyes were a pool of liquid brown, his expression soulful and melancholy.

"I thought about you every day since you left," his voice cracking under the strain of his emotions. "Every single day. I just hoped wherever you were, whatever, _whoever_," he emphatically gestured skyward toward the motel room door, "you were doing, that it was making you happy." He put his hands into his pockets and brought his eyes up from the ground to look her square in the eyes. "But I didn't ask you to come back here and turn my life upside down," he whispered. He turned to walk away. Veronica's legs were glued to the spot where she stood in the parking lot.

When he was almost to his car, he turned back. "So I guess this is what _this _feels like – that morning after Alterna-prom when you came to my hotel suite and found Kendall had spent the night." He gave a short laugh without mirth. "Awesome," he drew out the word obnoxiously, letting it hang in the air, as he turned to get into his vehicle.

Their eyes met again and locked. Then he turned the key in the ignition, broke the stare, and was gone.

**Sorry to leave you on that note. I think I may have watched the epic scene a few too many times before I wrote this :) Will try to update very soon, as this was short and bittersweet.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

When Veronica finally dragged herself back to the room, she found Matt sitting at the table by the door, casually thumbing through the newspaper as he drank his glass of red wine. He looked up at her pensive face, with an expression of indifference.

"Matt, what are you _really_ doing here?" Veronica asked boldly without preamble.

"I think the better question is, what are _you _really doing here?" He took a long gulp of his wine and continued to look down at the paper. "Clearly from all accounts you are drowning in your undercover role. I felt bad for pressuring you to come back home when you were so reluctant, but then I start digging around a little more. This Stone character frankly seemed a little sketchy, with little background info under that name beyond five years ago. Then I unearthed Logan Echolls, son of movie star and alleged murderer, Aaron Echolls."

Veronica closed her eyes and expelled a deep breath. She literally bristled when Matt said his name.

"Do you have any idea how many images come up on Logan Echolls, just through a Google search? 204,000. So imagine my surprise when I catch a glimpse of one of them with you in it, accompanying him on his way out of the courthouse after a grand jury refuse to indict him, due to lack of evidence, on murder charges of his own."

"Look, Veronica. You have to understand something. I am not mad at you. I'm mad at myself. I should have never put you in this position; you made it clear it was the last thing you wanted to do. I know you don't like to talk about your past, but had I known this was a part of it, I never would have pressured you into going undercover at Pan High," Matt stated in earnest.

"But, this _thing _with Logan Stone, Logan Echolls, whoever he is now, isn't real. People being curious about their exes and getting a thrill out of rekindling an old flame is nothing new. It's half the reason Facebook grew exponentially more popular – so people could look up their high school hook-ups, partake in some innocent flirting, and reminisce about the good 'ol days. You need to remember who you are, the job you're supposed to be doing here, and that that chapter of your life ended a long time ago."

"I want off the undercover operation," Veronica impulsively interrupted.

"It's too late for that. We need you in there, especially with all of the information we've been able to follow up on _because_ of you. I'm interested in this whole Josh angle, and I think we have a lot we can still learn if you can stick it out a few more weeks."

"I can't," Veronica said plainly, folding her arms across her chest.

"Fine, but if you want out of the undercover, I have to pull you off the case entirely, which by the way, is career suicide."

"Well, then consider my career dead on arrival." Without another thought, she handed him her badge and service revolver.

"What on earth are you doing, Mars? Really, you're going to tank a career more than five years in the making for some guy you used to screw in high school?" Matt asked, staring at her in wonder.

"What can I say? He was damn good in bed!" Veronica shot back hotly. "I am resigning from the FBI, effective immediately. But as far as dropping the case? That's not gonna happen. I think you forget where I came from – a family-owned and operated PI business right here in Neptune."

Matt scoffed, "You really think you're going to be able to tackle a case like this all on your own? With no FBI connections and resources?"

Veronica smiled sweetly, "I don't need 'em. I'm just _that _good." With frankly nothing else left to say, Veronica turned and left the room, with Matt still standing there, with a shell-shocked expression on his face.

* * *

Veronica awoke sometime mid-morning, nestled cozily on her father's couch, but with a serious kink in her next. She rubbed her eyes as the previous night came flooding back to her. Weezer's "SAY It ain't SO-whoa-whoa" played through her head at full blast. She stretched out her legs, which had been drawn up her chest, and felt them slam against a solid figure.

"You came," Veronica murmured, her voice still full of sleep.

"Was there an option _not_ to? Nah, you know that's kinda how we roll. You call and I come running."

"Yeah, not as quickly as you used to, but I am happy to have you here all the same."

"I'll have you know, Vee, I left a fine ass girl back in Palo Alto to drive all way the out here."

"I'm sure you did," Veronica said smiling with a wave of nostalgia splashing over her as she patted Wallace's knee.

Veronica had walked aimlessly for thirty minutes after she'd left the Camelot, sans her Sunfire, well, make that the Sunfire that belonged to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, where she was no longer an agent. She had ended up at her father's, and although he and Alicia were still in Hawaii, she was able to deduce the hiding spot for a spare key that only Keith Mars would think of and let herself in. She'd never felt more lost and alone, and she knew that she was going out on a limb to call Wallace at the hour that she did, but he'd never let her down. When he heard the frantic tone in her voice and the utter desperation, he got into his car immediately and drove more than seven hours because that's what you do for the girl who freed you from the flagpole when you were duck-taped to it in less than your finest pair of underwear. He had gotten in to Neptune just as the sun was coming up, just moments after Veronica had finally drifted off to sleep she never thought would come.

"So, since I _did _drive all the way here on such short notice, how about donning an apron and hittin' up the skillet with some pancakes, bacon, and home fries?" Wallace joked. He knew that she'd be ready to talk about whatever happened soon enough, but for right now, all he wanted to do was take her mind of all the tears she had shed last night.

* * *

***Exactly 10 Minutes Later***

"Wait, hold up! You did _what_?" Wallace's fork clattered as it hit the plate holding the frozen waffles he'd settled for.

"I quit," Veronica said matter-of-factly. "But not the case. I'm going solo on this one—back to my PI roots."

Wallace took a long gulp of orange juice, thinking carefully of how to respond. She hadn't done anything so impulsive since Logan Echolls was in her life. Wallace suspected there was a lot more to the story, but knowing Veronica, it would take at least 72 hours before he squeezed the entire truth out of her.

"Well, you may be getting back to your PI roots, but if I remember correctly, you were never really solo on your cases. Somebody always had your back," Wallace said with self-assured grin and wink.

"Hmmm," Veronica mused, "Maybe that's why this undercover was so unyielding; I didn't have a stealthy connection in the attendance office."

"Mars back in Neptune? This might call for me taking that two-week vacation I've got coming."

"No matter what anyone says about you, you're a stand-up guy, Wallace Fennel."

"And you, Veronica Mars, are and will always be, a marshmallow."

**In real life, it is probably much more complicated to resign from the FBI, but it seemed like an interesting direction so I went with it! Hope you like it and where it's headed :) PS - who else is super excited about 91,000+ backers on Kickstarter and raising $5,702, 153 for a Veronica Mars movie?! **


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

When the weekend finally hit, Veronica was both physically and mentally drained. She had exhausted countless hours going through the case in her mind, bouncing theories off of Wallace, who was more concerned about when they were going to start the stake-outs and car chases. Veronica had put together a plan for continuing to investigate the disappearances on her own. She would re-interview all of the families and friends of each of the missing girls, and planned to enlist Weevil in the aid of getting his close-knit community to trust her and talk to her.

She had been struggling internally with how to proceed with contacting Logan. She knew she needed to try to clear things up, but she at the same time, she was hurt by his parallel between the morning after Alterna-prom and his encounter with Matt. Yes, she had withheld the full truth with Logan, but he had to at least understand that after separate lives for more than six years, it would take time for her to uncomplicate her life a bit. The thing with Logan was that their pull to each other was magnetic. Even though they hadn't lain on each other for the past six years, their flame never dimmed; it burned with the same level of intensity that it had the afternoon he kissed her on the balcony outside the Camelot Motel.

By Sunday morning, she had had enough moping and was getting antsy. She had spent Saturday night restoring her natural hair color with Wallace and eating pints of Chinese take-out while catching him up on the entire situation.

She needed to confront Logan, in one way or another. It was like watching a train derail; everything in her was screaming to run and fix it, but inside her was a legitimate feeling of helplessness, like she wasn't sure she could ever really repair all the damage she'd caused. However, he was bound to wonder what had happened to Jennie Kempner if she didn't show up for school on Monday; she had already missed several days.

Veronica's thoughts drifted to Lily. She had also been meaning to call Weevil to ask to speak to the girl. It really bothered her that Lily was a pawn in this whole thing. Not a pawn, per se; it was in her own best interests to provide information that would allow her team to better investigate Ophelia's disappearance. But, still Veronica felt a pang of guilt for yet another person she had misrepresented herself to that she had come to genuinely care about. If Veronica had been graduating high school in 2013 rather than 2006, she was pretty sure she and Lily would have been friends.

Veronica knew it was time to face the inevitable. She borrowed Wallace's sleek silver Lexus and made her way across town to talk to Logan, to make him understand. It was as though her ipod was possessed. Every song that came on, although set to a random shuffle, seemed to select the most heart-wrenching of love songs. When she pulled up in front of his house, she hesitated for a minute before getting out of her car. Jake was playing in the yard with Aimee, his cheeks ruddy and puffed out from being nearly out of breath.

"Ronnie-ka!" Jake said gleefully, pointing and then looking back at his babysitter for eager confirmation.

"Hi, Jake, hi Aimee," Veronica greeted them nervously. She searched both their faces for any clues to gauge Logan's temperature toward her, but Jake was downright ecstatic to see the face of a new friend, and although Aimee appeared a little wary, she was polite and friendly.

"I'm looking for Logan. Is he here?"

"Daddy?" Jake said incredulously, as though that term had all but replaced Logan's first name.

"Lo hits the beach every Sunday morning to surf. I always watch Jake on Sundays mornings. Sometimes afternoons, depends on the waves."

"You made your hair a new color, Ronnie-ka! It's yellow! Like mine!" Jake noticed.

Veronica smiled, "I'm getting back to my roots."

The tiny little boy looked at her questioningly and then smiled like the true charmer he was destined to grow into. "It's so pretty!"

"Would you like me to try his cell? He probably won't answer, but I can leave a message for him."

"Don't worry about it," Veronica dismissed, as she started to back up towards the car, "I think I still know where to find him," she added over the shoulder as she walked away.

* * *

Veronica parked and walked through the hot sand with her flip-flops in hand. She scanned the crowded beach with her cupped hand raised to her forehead to discourage the sun from burning her retinas. The tiny figures that danced before her eyes from a distance in the gleaming crystal blue water were unrecognizable. But if it took her til sunfall, she knew she needed to find Logan. She plopped down in the sand and waited…

Veronica awoke to cold, salty drips plopping on her face and then slowly rolling down her face into her hairline. She opened her eyes, confused, and the glaring white hot sunlight that immediately blinded her did not help matters. A shadowy figure moved in front of the light, allowing her to squint up at the person.

"What are you doing? Trying to atone yourself for being an asshole by giving yourself third degree burns?"

"I was looking for you. I must have fallen asleep," Veronica answered softly, looking up at Logan's dripping and tan face, trying to read his feelings.

Logan crossed his arms over his chest, as if to say directly to her psyche, 'I'm closed off.'

"I need to explain what you walked into last night." The words tumbled out before she could stop herself. "I never thought I would come back to Neptune…I was completely against going undercover. I let myself get swept up in the idea because of Matt. I have – had – been dating him for the past several months, although it is completely inappropriate because we work together and he's pretty much the person above me in the chain of command." Veronica willed herself to shut up and get to the point before she completely drove him away with the intimate details of their relationship. She saw Logan's jaw twitch, and she continued to ramble through, trying desperately to get to the point.

"Anyway, days before we were heading west, Matt decided he was going to stay back and work different angles with another colleague in Virginia." Veronica swallowed hard; Logan's eyes were boring holes into her, and she wasn't sure if he wanted her to continue or leave him alone.

"I had no idea that I was going to run into you, Logan. I figured I would see Weevil, because I knew that there was a connection between him and one of the victims, but I was completely unprepared to walk into an English classroom and come face to face with the guy I have been thinking about, dreaming about for the past six years…the very face I ran away from six years ago. So I messed up. I didn't tell you I was in a relationship. I should have. But I considered it over the second I left for California and he stayed there. That night, I was planning to call him the second I got back to the motel to let him know that our personal relationship was over, but when I got there, he was waiting in my room."

"From what it looked like when I got there, you weren't in any hurry to show him the door. In fact, if I remember correctly, he enough time to turn the bed down and pour the two of you a glass of Chianti."

"Logan, you have a child. You have a home in the suburbs. You're an English teacher at Pan High. Your life has changed too, and I accept that wholeheartedly. In fact, I am beyond proud of the person you have become, a person who I was hoping I would get the opportunity to get to know better. But, you have to understand, six years have passed for me too, and my life before going undercover didn't just cease to exist. I was in a relationship. I was an accomplished federal agent-"

Logan's head jerked up. "_Was_?"

Veronica couldn't meet his gaze, and directed her eyes skyward. "I resigned." Veronica cringed as she watched his nostrils flare and his eyes flash.

"What?! When? Why?"

"Because," she said softly, choosing only to answer the most important question he'd asked, "it's not who I am. I have been trying to make my life fit the mold I thought I wanted. I convinced myself that the FBI was _my _dream. But it wasn't." Veronica wasn't sure whose dream it was – Keith's, her college professors', or just the fantasy of a fifteen year old girl. Sure, she'd thought she was happy when she was in Virginia. She was driven, focused, and easily impressed her colleagues with her quick thinking and sharp tongue. She'd even found herself an incredibly sexy distraction with an off-limits guy who happened to be her boss.

"Until I came back here and saw you, I had no idea that I had left a big part of myself here in Neptune." Veronica blinked, waiting for some kind of reaction, just to gauge whether or not she'd actually said that last part aloud.

Logan was quiet for a while. Still she kept her eyes holding his gaze and waited. "So what's your plan?"

"I'm going to stay here and continue investigating the cases on my own. For now, that's as far as I've gotten."

"Look, Veronica, I think you're crazy to have quit your job. But, if there's anyone who I have faith in to figure out who is behind these disappearances, it's you." The words hung there in the air between them.

To make an inference, her high school English teacher had told her, means to read between the lines of what the author is saying. What Veronica was reading and what Logan was clearly implying was that he had _faith _in her to solve a crime, but that was where his faith stopped. He didn't believe in a happy ending for them.

"If there's anything you need with the case…" Logan offered, raking a hand through his hair. "Who am I kidding, Veronica Mars ask for help?" Logan smiled, teasingly, but the humor was cutting.

The shrill chime of Veronica's phone cut into the conversation, mercifully, as Veronica didn't know whether she could stand another second without crumpling to the ground in tears. She yanked the phone from her pocket. "What's up?" she mustered up the strength to hide the emotion from her husky voice.

"There's someone here that I think you need to speak with," Wallace said haltingly over the phone.

Knowing better than to ask any questions, Veronica replied, "I'll be there in twenty minutes," thankful for the graceful and hopefully tearless exit.

"I've gotta run. I am sure I'll see you around." Veronica slung her bag over her shoulder and headed off toward her car, pretty sure that if Logan had his way, a casual encounter probably wouldn't happen.


	21. Chapter 21

**It's been months since I updated. I apologize. Here's what happened. I was asked to take on a crazy new role at work. (Just to be clear, not at all a promotion or raise in pay, but totally assigned to take on a different task as a middle school English teacher 2 months before the end of the school year). There were days I didn't know my own name, and for that reason, I couldn't write anything - at all - until the end of the school year. When school let out June 27, the very first thing I wanted to do was get back to my passion - writing this story - although I was fearful I wouldn't have any readers left and if I did, it would probably feel really disjointed. However, I sat down at my kitchen table and wrote a chapter. And it SUCKED! So, I chose not to publish it. I got nervous I wouldn't be able to finish because I didn't know where to go next with it because I got kind of into the whole mystery-writing piece of it (which was really not where I thought I would go, as I mostly wanted to write LoVe). Many nights before I fell asleep, I would drift to thinking about this story, hoping inspiration would strike. And it did 2 nights ago. So I deleted the crap chapter I wrote and started fresh, and I think I can merge this with the original plan I had pretty well. I apologize for the long preamble, but I wanted to you to know that I am planning to keep writing and good things are coming. (also, disclaimer for any typos - I was eager to put something out there that I didn't proof this multiple times.**

**Chapter 21**

Veronica rushed up the steps to her father's house, a nervous pit in her stomach as she ran through the possibilities of who could be waiting behind the sturdy red door to speak with her._Matt, overlooking her transgressions and wanting to convince her to come back to the FBI? Nancy, angry and disappointed about the way she left? Her father back early from his trip? Someone with news of another disappearance?_ Either way, the only person she really felt like talking to was Logan, and judging by the way they had left things at the beach, it didn't seem likely that he wanted to see her again, let alone have another heartbreaking conversation about how she had hurt him yet again.

Veronica pushed the door open and immediately her eyes fell on Wallace, who was sitting, relaxed, on the couch. He gave her a sheepish half smile while Veronica's eyes continued to survey the room. There, in her dad's favorite plaid recliner chair sat Dick Casablancas, looking every bit the same oafish surfer 09er she'd had the unfortunate pleasure of knowing through high school and her first year of college. It was as though he had discovered the fountain of youth; he looked virtually unchanged since she'd last seen him, right down the black wrinkled t-shirt that read 'Don't Be a Dick'.

"I rushed home for Dick Casablancas?" Veronica exclaimed incredulously. "I thought you said there was someone here I _need _to speak with. I neither _need _to speak with Dick, nor do I _want_ to," Veronica said crossly, still smarting from her last encounter with Logan and annoyed by Wallace's urgent insistence that she make a beeline home.

"She's awfully cranky," Dick said, looking at Wallace knowingly. He directed his attention back to Veronica. "Does this mean you and Logan had a lover's quarrel? Why don't you come sit on Uncle Dick's lap and tell him all about it?" He added patting his knee and motioning Veronica over, to which she responded to with her middle finger.

But as soon as the one-fingered salute went up in his general direction, another person came into view from the hallway, and instead of flipping off Dick, she was flipping off – _Mac?_

"Well, that's an odd way to greet someone you haven't seen in years, but I guess I'm not surprised, considering who it's coming from." Mac sniffed indifferently in Veronica's direction and then took a seat on Dick's lap.

Veronica was speechless, as she took in the scene that was playing out in her father's living room. Mac looked absolutely amazing. She had grown into the too-wise-for-her-age look that she'd had in high school. Her eyes were still intense and studying, but they were now framed by a sleek haircut, the color of black cherries. She looked like a stylish young entrepreneur, in her plain but well-fitted black suit, complete with black stiletto heels that had small silver spikes. Veronica smiled despite herself. Mac looked so professional and mature yet still so…Mac. And then like the flip of a switch, Veronica's face was crestfallen. _This is the only girl I let myself become so close to it was like being sisters since Lilly. And I let my own personal issues and insecurities get in the way of our friendship. Yeah, she may walk and talk exactly like the Mac I knew in high school and college, but she's not my best friend anymore, because I pretty much wrecking-balled our friendship when I left town without so much as a goodbye. For goodness sake, she's sitting on Dick Casablancas' lap right now; I don't even know this girl anymore!_

Sensing that Veronica was about to talk herself down a one-way path of self-destruction, Wallace broke into the silence. "I contacted Mac because she lives close to me in Palo Alto, and I knew that if I was going to take a little time away from home, I'd need someone to grab the mail and check on my place. When I told her why I was staying Neptune, I mentioned that I was going to help you with looking into the disappearances, and as it turns out, she had some information that she thought might be helpful."

Mac took over the explanation, filling in the blanks, matter of factly. "I have already disclosed this information to the authorities, but judging by the way this case has been handled, or rather mishandled, I figure it would be beneficial to share the information with you as well, if you're planning to go all Miss Marple on this case." Mac was eyeing her warily.

_Yet another person who will deal with me because of my prowess with detective work but is not trusting of me as a person._

She continued, "I run a social networking site called Lost and Found for adopted individuals who are seeking out their birth families and vice versa. You may have heard of it?" Mac smiled modestly yet glowing with pride, as Mac herself had discovered many years ago, as a result of Veronica's sleuthing, that she had not been raised by her birth parents due to a hospital mix-up, sending her home with Madison Sinclair's birth parents and Madison home with Mac's.

Veronica nodded with a shy smile. She was so proud of the person that Mac had become. Her work was so meaningful and cleansing to her soul. She had allowed her heartache with being switched at birth to fuel something so positive.

Dick interjected at this point with "Lost and Found is a Fortune 500 company. We're not some fly by night operation here. We hobnob with Mark."

Veronica stared at him, her mouth forming a tight thin line, mostly because she knew she was kissing away potentially vital information to the case if she misspoke and undermined Mac's "associate", as he clearly considered himself.

"Zuckerberg!" Dick added leaning forward, as though he was letting her in on the cure to cancer. 

Veronica let her jaw fall open theatrically, to satisfy Dick's clear attempt at a pissing contest.

Mac smiled despite herself, and Veronica wasn't sure if it was in response to Dick's enthusiastic name-dropping or Veronica being facetious. "Anyway, we had someone logging into 'Lost and Found' as 'Nieliz95'. She was sending really cryptic messages in shouty all caps," Mac broke off, looking both tired and distressed, and something about the ways she was rubbing her temples made Veronica think that it was more than 'shouty caps' that were plaguing her.

Dick kneaded Mac's hunkered shoulders, quietly urging her to go on. Veronica was a little touched by his tenderness. As far as Veronica had ever been concerned, Dick's name pretty much summed him up – how he acted, what she thought of him, what part of his body he thought with…But seeing him so sweet and gentle with Mac warmed her soul in a way she never thought possible.

"Nieliz is the name of one of the girls who went missing from Pan High earlier this year," Veronica mused quietly.

"Way to connect the dots, Ronnie," Dick scoffed.

"But if she has access to a computer, it isn't likely she's being held against her will. It seems more likely that she was a disgruntled teen who was looking to escape a restrictive household. Maybe she wants to be lost for now but doesn't want to torture her poor parents," Veronica surmised, shooting a pointed look at Dick for injecting before she had a chance to finish her stream of consciousness.

"Well, that's the thing. The messages did sound as if the young woman was in danger, which is why it was on my radar," Mac pressed on, with a mix of emotions wearing on her face.

"What did the postings say?"

Mac pulled a stack of rumpled papers from a messenger bag on the floor near her feet. "Take a look for yourself."

Veronica tentatively reached out to grab the papers from Mac and scanned through the first few postings from Nieliz95. Messages dated back to early December.

12/2

I WANT TO GO HOME! MOM, PLEASE DON'T GIVE UP HOPE. YOU KNOW I WOULD NEVER MISS YOUR PUMPKIN PIE EMPANADAS ON THANKSGIVING.

12/18

I CAN'T IMAGINE SPENDING CHRISTMAS IN THIS BLACK HOLE. I CAN FEEL YOUR TEARS AND THE SOBS THAT RACK YOUR CHEST, AND ALTHOUGH IT CAUSES YOU PAIN, I HOPE IT MAKES YOU FIGHT. I FEAR ONE DAY YOU WILL BELIEVE I HAVE LEFT THIS EARTH WHILE MY HEART STILL BEATS.

1/26

I DON'T KNOW WHAT DAY IT IS OR IF CHRISTMAS HAS PASSED, BUT I AM BECOMING AN EMPTY SHELL, ALL USED UP. I PRAYED YOU WOULD NOT LOSE FAITH BUT I AM LOSING IT MYSELF. ARE YOU EVEN TRYING TO FIND ME? I CAN STILL SMELL YOUR PERFUME SO I CANNOT BE THAT FAR.

Veronica looked up from the transcripts, where at least twenty more postings, some in Spanish, were highlighted. "I just don't understand. How could she be posting all of this and not have considered a more sensible way to communicate, if she is in fact Nieliz Robles and she was taken somewhere against her will?"

"Well, that's just it. She's not Nieliz Robles. I followed protocol and reported the postings to the authorities. They traced the computer's IP address. The postings were coming from Blisspoint, twenty-five miles outside of Neptune, from a Jeannette Hollaway's home, the residence of a forty-one year old divorced mother. When the FBI questioned her, she denied knowing who had made the posts and blamed the whole thing on her daughter, a freshman in high school, which satisfied the FBI."

"But not you?" Veronica asked, knowingly.

"No. Because I became more intrigued with the connection. I had read about the disappearances in the news, and from reading the posts, it seems highly unlikely that a mother or daughter could play such a cruel joke on a grieving, panic-stricken mother. These posts reference family members of Nieliz Robles by name."

"Holy shit!" Veronica and Wallace gasped simultaneously.

Dick snapped his fingers and grinned, "I'm pretty sure one of you owes the other one a Coke."

Wallace and Veronica shot disgusted looks at Dick. _Well at least Dick's lack of tact is intact,_ Veronica thought to herself.

"What? It's like, Jinx. Everybody knows that game."

"Dick, this is no time for games. I think it's time to pay Jeanette Hollaway a visit."


	22. Chapter 22

**Thank you for your kind and encouraging feedback. It brings a smile to my face and keeps me motivated to figure things out even when I think I have written myself into a corner. I promise more LoVe in the next chapter; this one was a beast!**

**Chapter 22**

Veronica fiddled nervously with the radio dial to fill the void of silence, as she and Mac coasted along the winding highway toward a trailer park in Blisspoint.

_There would be idle chatter in this car if Dick and Wallace hadn't bailed to meet up with Logan for a surf date. _It might have been the one time in her life that she would have welcomed Dick with open arms. Optimistically, she had thought that the ride would give she and Mac a chance to call out that elephant in the backseat, but now that they were together, it was just plain awkward. Mac deserved an apology, and it wasn't that Veronica wasn't more than eager to give one; she just didn't know how to begin. Every feeble attempt she rehearsed echoed through the inner chambers of her skull as lame and pathetic.

"Hey, Veronica, you think you might stop worrying about the radio and try staying in the lane? It's somewhere between the dotted white line and the enormous guardrail you're veering toward!"

Veronica at once righted the car which was drifting dangerously close to not only the guardrail but the massive cliff aside them. "I'm sorry," she said sheepishly. "I guess I'm a little nervous."

""Why would you be nervous? You're Veronica Mars," Mac retorted.

Veronica was pretty sure that wasn't a compliment, but it was definitely an opening. "I guess you must think I'm a pretty selfish, heartless bitch?"

"You forgot self-serving, egotistical, cruel, and stubborn," Mac added, but when Veronica peeked at her peripherally, she saw a smile pulling at Mac's lips.

"Mac, I _am _sorry that I left the way that I did. I always pictured that if our paths crossed I would explain my reasons and make you understand, but now that I am back in Neptune, my logic sounds pretty damn stupid, even to my own ears. I just want you to know, I was totally wrong in my behavior, and I don't want to waste even one minute of our conversation trying to justify my actions because they were completely..." Veronica searched for the proper word.

"Boneheaded?" Mac supplied.

"Yes, boneheaded...Hey, speaking of boneheads-"

Veronica stopped in her tracks, nearly biting her tongue as she was working so quick to retract what almost spilled out of her mouth about Dick, when she saw Mac's steely gaze.

Veronica attempted a lame recovery. "Um, my dad must have bought Back-up a new bone. It's, uh, shaped kinda like a head. Made me think of boneheads. Anyway, tell me all about "Lost and Found"!"

With the conversation and the car safely steered back toward sunnier topics and places, Mac launched into a description of how she had, as a techie prodigy does, taken the world by storm with her social networking site.

"I guess I have you to thank for my success."

Veronica looked at her quizzically. She had the memory of Mac's expression when she's first seen her after more than six years permanent branded into her memory, and gratitude certainly wasn't a word that came to mind to describe it.

"No, seriously. I just had the idea after thinking about how I would have had virtually no idea that I was switched at birth with –" sharp intake and fast exhale forming one quick word that might have been missed by a casual bystander, " –Madison– if it weren't for you. Not everybody befriends a PI in their formative years, but we all have the Internet, a pretty powerful resource, at our disposal. I wanted to create a site that could help people find other people or at least let them know there's someone looking for them. Kind of like the lonely hearts ads you'd see in the personal ads of a newspaper, decades ago."

"So Desperately Seeking Susan meets The Parent Trap?"

"Ummm, no not exactly," Mac said politely, shaking her head with an expression mirroring someone who had bitten into a rotten apple. "It's a site where people can reconnect. It's not necessarily even for kids who are adopted, although there are tons of great resources on the site for people going that route. But, say for example, you had a close friend in high school, and that friend, oh I dunno, picks up and moves out of state without so much as a goodbye? You could create a profile to search that friend and put messages out to locate the person."

Veronica took the dig in stride; she knew she deserved it. "But how's that different from Facebook? You can pretty much stalk anyone you want through that site, right?"

"Sure, it's the same basic principle, but Facebook is more or less designed to be a virtual trophy room. A place where you can post pictures of yourself, your kids, your dog, etc. and embellish your importance through a series of status updates. But my site allows people to search people and see who is searching them. It is designed for people trying to find or reconnect with others rather than for people who are exclusively "cyber-friends", like with Facebook. It's my passion, and I've turned it into a pretty lucrative corporation. Businesses are throwing money at me for ad space on the site."

"I'm really happy for you, Mac. Although, I always knew that you were going to be a success. I mean, who finances a new car through a purity test scam online their junior year of high school and doesn't fulfill the coveted prophesy of 'most likely to succeed'? But I gotta ask..."

"What? If I ever searched you?"

"Ha, no. No, I may have left like a jerk, but I would have been easy enough to find through my dad or Wallace." Veronica was suddenly feeling as shy as a high school sophomore waiting for Duncan Kane to ask her to go to Homecoming. "How is it that you and Dick became an 'item'?"

Mac smiled coyly but remained silent for a beat. Veronica started to regret her boldness and was beginning to think that she had mistaken Mac's forthrightness with her business for an intimacy that had been shared between friends a lifetime ago.

"Dick always acted weird around me after everything that happened with Cassidy, and I was pretty sure he blamed me for everything, thinking that I pushed him over the edge-" Mac stopped abruptly, all too aware of the verbal faux pas. "Anyway, I felt pretty uncomfortable around him as well because I spent the better part of the summer after my senior year trying to repress the memory of being found naked by you and Logan in a room at the Neptune Grand. Dick reminded me too much of a part of my life that was embarrassing, confusing, and hurtful. When he later apologized to me for being such a jerk, it started something between us. Although we have polar opposite interests in friends, music, hobbies, you name it, we found ourselves continuing to make time to hang out with one another, and before long we were spending more time together than apart. I thought the connection was Cassidy, but it turns out, it was more than that. And here's how I know. There's the Dick you guys all know, and then there's _my _Dick."

Veronica's eyes grew wide again, at Mac's double entendre, and she stifled the laughter that was threatening to tear through her whole body. But when she caught the look on Mac's face and the realization that she'd done it again with her damned figurative language, they both broke out in a case of the giggles that didn't stop for at least five minutes, until the tears were rolling down both their cheeks.

"Seriously though," Mac tried again, holding her sides which were aching from laughing so hard. "Dick is different with me. He lets his guard down. It's almost like, with me, he's not afraid to be insightful or profound. And he makes me laugh. Not to mention, he's got a pretty keen business sense. Sometimes, it's a little sketchy, probably the influence of Dick Sr., but he's a shark when it comes to business deals. He protects his assets for sure."

Veronica swore she could see hearts in the place of Mac's pupils, and she knew that by "assets", Mac wasn't really talking business anymore but was talking about her heart.

"I know it probably sounds silly to you. Who ends up falling for someone they knew in high school?"

Like a sucker punch to the gut, Veronica's mind went straight to Logan. _Good question. Who _does _find the love of their life in high school? Who was actually someone they hated. And then leaves him. Multiple times. Yup, that's be me, Veronica Mars, world-class jackass._

"Slow up, I think this might be it," Mac said, scanning the address she'd hastily scrawled onto her palm. "Yep, 42 Sunrose Terrace."

The scroungy-looking trailer looked anything but sunny or rosy. The paint was chipping, exposing rust on the small trailer. The garden was a diverse collection of weeds, and there was a mounting pile of trash bags spilled open adorning the residence.

"Bring it on, Jeanette Hollway," Veronica murmured to herself as she and Mac made their way up the walk.

* * *

Mac tentatively knocked on the metal screen door, and Veronica waited all of three seconds before following it up with a series of sharp raps that could have been mistaken for a round from her service revolver. They detected stirring within the house, and the door whipped open to reveal a thin, weathered face belonging, presumably, to Jeanette Holloway.

Mac shot Veronica a pointed look that suggested she would do the talking.

"Hi, Ms. Holloway, my name is Cindy MacKenzie, and this is my..." Mac stumbled for the most accurate term. "My _friend_ Veronica Mars. We have a few questions we wanted to ask you about your postings on the site "Lost and Found"? It will only take a few minutes of your time."

"I already told the authorities, I don't know anything about those posts. I work nights, and my daughter Abby has friends in and out using our computer. I don't see how I can help you any further." She stopped abruptly just as she was closing the door on them. Something seemed to dawn on her. "Ya'll aren't police officers, are you?"

"No, ma'am. We are just trying to get a little more information regarding the disappearances of several young women who went missing from PanHigh School."

"So, are you family?"

"Of whom?"

"Of the missing girls?" Jeanette spat out, exasperated, drawing a crinkled softpack of generic brand cigarettes from her pocket.

"No, no, it's-"

"Well, if you're not cops and you're not family, who the hell are ya?"

Mac was clearly drowning, and Jeanette Holloway had turned the interrogation around on them.

Veronica reached for her bag as Jeanette Holloway fished a crooked cigarette from her pack. As Jeanette lifted the lighter to light her cigarette, Veronica pushed a photograph of Ophelia Navarro under her nose. Instead of inhaling, Jeanette exhaled quickly, extinguishing the flame of the lighter.

"This Ophelia Navarro, aged fourteen. Probably pretty close to the age of your daughter Abby. She has been missing for nearly six weeks now. She's is the niece of a very close friend, and _I _am a private investigator. These posts came during hours when your daughter would have been at school, so don't bullshit a bullshitter."

Jeanette Holloway's eyes grew big as saucers, but Veronica had her attention and wasn't looking to have a door nearly slammed in her face a second time.

"The FBI may not think you have anything of value to contribute to this investigation, but _I _happen to think otherwise. So, where is this conversation going to happen – out here in front of your nosy neighbors, or inside over some tea and crumpets?" Veronica challenged, her eyes lit up like a neon sign that spelled out: 'Do NOT fuck with me right now'.

Jeanette, with her cigarette finally lit and hanging form her mouth at a funny angle, had paled considerably with the picture of Ophelia Navarro dangling under her nose. Veronica could read all the signs in her body language – shifting her weight back and forth between feet, struggling to make eye contact that lasted longer than five seconds, fixating on playing with a lock of hair that refused to stay in place behind her ear – she clearly had something to say.

"You can come on in, but I ain't got not tea and crumpets."

* * *

"Sorry if I came across as a little inhospitable before. I have had the cops here have a dozen times. And see, I work nights at a hospital, so people come calling when I am supposed to be catching z's. Makes me a little cranky, but I don't mean nothing by it."

Veronica nodded but didn't reciprocate with an apology. Her tactic seemed to be working, and if Jeanette was going to crack and give her something to go on, she needed to keep pressing on.

"I can understand why law enforcement has been banging down your door, though. How is it that postings from your computer's IP address appear to be from Nieliz Robles, one of the girls who is missing?"

Jeanette sighed a long and drawn out sigh. "If you were cops, I wouldn't even say this out loud. You'd cart me off to the loony bin..." she trailed off.

_Oh, here we go, _Veronica mused. _What kind of crazy are we talking here?_

"I have a gift. Well, at least that's what my granny used to call it. I call it more of a curse. Thank God it skips a generation, otherwise, my poor Abby...I am what is called a psychic channeler."

Veronica was pretty sure she threw up inside her mouth with that revelation. Seriously? Maybe she'd been out of the PI world for too long. _This _was her big lead? She imagined what Matt's exceedingly handsome but cruelly arrogant face would have looked like if Jeanette Holloway had dropped this bomb on him.

"I know, you think I'm nuts. Hell, _I_ thought I was nuts the first time I ever read something back that I had written in my journal when I was only eleven years old. I couldn't understand the words I had written, where the raw emotion had even come from, until I showed it to my grandmother. She's the one who explained to me that I was able to communicate with spirits on a higher plane."

Like a nervous tic, something that was a cross between a sneeze and a cough escaped Veronica but it sounded more like 'bullshit'.

"Please, Ms. Holloway, continue. Ignore Veronica's gaping mouth. She was burned by a psychic back in high school, but I am really curious to learn more about your experience.

_Burned, huh? She revealed to the entire world that I used Mamma-Max. If I ever find that charlatan again, I'm gonna..._

"Yeah, I don't blame her for being skeptical. I get the feeling that she isn't really open to other realms, which is interesting in itself because I am getting a really funny sense about her..."

_The only thing I hate more than people talking about me as though I am not even here is people trying to read my future through a crystal ball._

"Really?" Mac's eyes lit up as she leaned closer to Jeanette.

"I'm just reading that she is putting herself in some kind of danger."

"Well, that's rich. I am a PI, remember? Kind of goes with the territory," Veronica retorted.

"Right, it's just funny because the word 'teacher' keeps popping up just over your left shoulder. But that doesn't make any sense. You're clearly not a student, right? The senses I get about people are never as clear when I'm fully conscious as they are when I am semi-conscious, so I must be getting things mixed up," Jeanette mused. "But, I can say this. Someone is watching over you, like a guardian angel. She's trying to tell me something, and I am just mixing her message all up!"

Veronica felt the hairs on her arms poke up like little soldiers at attention. She forced herself to ignore the weird coincidence. _If there's any danger involving a teacher, it's just getting my heart broken, and that is something I'm used to. _Mac encouraged Jeanette to share more about what it meant to "channel".

"When I get home from work at 7 AM, I usually make Abby breakfast before going to bed, but there are some mornings where I am more keyed up. I usually put a talk show on and fall asleep on the couch in front of the TV. Sometimes I surf the Internet. I've woken up before in front of the computer with an entire manuscript in front of me on the screen. See, the way it works is through automatic writing. I get myself good and worn out, but before I am fully unconscious I must begin typing. Except, it's not me. It's not my words. It's someone else's story. Shit, I couldn't even tell you what some of the words I've written even mean, let alone spell them without consulting Webster's dictionary. My granny always said that I could make a lot of money doing readings for people. But I couldn't see myself putting one of those tacky blue neon signs in the window – 'psychic readings done here!' It would embarrass the hell out of my daughter, for one. And besides, I never felt comfortable with the whole thing. It's unnerving."

"So," Mac pressed on, excitement bubbling through her vocal chords, "You think that Nieliz inhabited you, guided you onto "Lost and Found", and created those postings?"

"It's a wacky explanation, but it's the only one I've got. Some people try so hard to meditate and reach astral projection, but I don't ask for it to happen and for what it's worth, I can't tell ya a damn thing about it because I have no recollection after it happens. I wake up, as I would expect to do after a long night's work, and there is evidence of mischief on my computer screen."

"Wow, that's pretty amazing. Imagine what you could do if you really tried to hone your ability! I, by the way, am the creator of the site, "Lost and Found", and while I had hoped it would draw in people who were seeking out their loved ones, I never imagined that-"

"Can we put a pause on this lovefest?" Veronica interrupted. "I think we are missing a major point here. Jeanette," Veronica gestured flippantly, "here, communicates with _spirits_. In order to be considered a spirit, one must be dead. As of yet, there is no evidence to suggest that Nieliz Robles is dead. There is no motive, no body, no-no-, nothing!" Veronica sputtered, hoping that she could talk a little sense into Mac, who was acting like a fourteen year old girl who had just been told that Justin Bieber had entered the building.

"Oh no, sweetheart," Jeanette said solemnly, with just the tiniest bit of her long-forgotten Texas drawl creeping into her voice. "She's definitely gone. She just doesn't realize it yet."


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

Veronica hadn't even put two legs on the ground in her father's driveway before she was accosted by a man in a three-piece suit. Never mind that this man was tall, dark, and handsome, with handcuffs protruding from his back pocket.

_And to think, two weeks ago, I wouldn't have objected to being bound with those handcuffs one bit..._

"Matt, what are you doing here?" Veronica asked, unable to keep the wariness from her shaking voice. But she didn't slow her stride. That forty-minute car ride had taken a lot out of her, but definitely not out of her bladder. She needed to pee, and Agent Adams was just going to have to wait.

But Matt took her by surprise when he grabbed her above her elbow and spun her so she was facing him and only mere inches from the twelve o'clock shadow that had sprung up on his face.

"I would like to know what the hell you were doing at the residence of Jeanette Holloway this afternoon," he demanded.

"Matt, you know as well as I do that I am no longer part of the FBI. But I made it clear in my exit interview, I am going to continue investigating this case on my own as a private investigator. I'm not impeding your investigation or withholding any information." _At least not any _useful_ information, not counting the deranged tale I just heard from a woman claiming to be psychic._

Matt's gaze didn't waver and neither did his grip.

"Jesus! Are you staking out _her_ house, or are you tailing _me_ now?"

Veronica watched a black Land Rover turn down the street and felt her rapidly beating heart drop down into her quaking stomach. _Great, because my timing just sucks. _

The Land Rover pulled to a stop in front of the house. Dick and Wallace piled out, their expressions reeking of awkwardness. The vehicle idled for a second and then the engine shut off.

Veronica felt the pressure Matt was still applying to her upper arm with his firm grip, but her eyes were locked into Logan's as he stepped around the front of the Land Rover.

Matt's voice broke through the wild tattoo drumming through Veronica's ears. "You do realize that _when_ you get in over your head, the FBI is not going to be able to help you. _I _am not going to be able to do anything to help you. Right?"

Before she even knew what was happening Logan had closed in on them. But, this was not Logan circa 2007.

"I'm pretty sure she's good, man. She's aware of the situation. You should probably take your hand off her, though." The threat edged through his voice, but Logan remained calm and collected.

Matt loosened his grip from her arm, meeting Logan's intense stare. He said nothing to Logan but turned his eyes back to face Veronica. His face was tense and clearly he was irked.

"Seriously, Mars. You need to watch the fuck out." Again, he glanced back at Logan darkly and then back at her. "You don't know what you're messing with here." He released her and turned back in the direction of his nondescript vehicle.

Nobody said a word as he drove off. Veronica was pretty sure no one even breathed. Matt was just turning off the block when Dick grabbed a clump of mulch from the bed around the tree he was standing in front of, landscape Alicia had undoubtedly put some TLC into.

"She's VMars, biiiiittttcccchhh! She's got this!" Dick screamed after the vehicle, throwing the mulch up into the air.

The mulch, of course was taken by the California wind, and ended up scattering into a cloud over their heads before ending up in their hair.

Wallace, knowing just how to right many wrongs, threw an arm around Veronica's waist, steering her toward the house. "We picked up some burgers and hot dogs to throw on the grill." His voice dropped to a whisper, "And some tequila."

"Let's fire it up!" he shouted with enough enthusiasm to direct the crew back towards the house.

* * *

Veronica was pretty sure even if they hadn't all been stuffing their faces, it still would have been tensely silent. She didn't know where to safely direct her eyes, so they kept darting from face to face and then down at her food. Logan looked incredibly pissed, Mac looked nervous as hell, and Dick kept winking at her. It was all so confusing.

Wallace decided to break the silence, pouring himself and everyone else another tequila shot. She wanted to tell him not to bother. Alcohol wasn't going to solve anyone's problems...for very long anyway. And she was pretty sure, although she wasn't a drinker, that she had developed some kind of tolerance due to poor genetics. She couldn't pretend to be one of those girls like Madison Sinclair, who consumed one drink and got to act like she was Britney Spears in her bipolar days.

"We need to have a meeting of the minds," Wallace ventured.

"I guess you're out," Veronica said as she nodded at Dick, who was enjoying his hot dog a little too much.

Mac glared at Veronica, and whatever truce they had forged in the car ride to Blisspoint seemed to be out the window.

Wallace tried again, "Listen, guys. Here's how I see it – we've all gone our separate ways, living good lives. But, Weevil's our friend from way back. His niece is missing, and Veronica, here, is going to take on the case like the super-sleuth she is, without the help of the FBI. I say, if we can spare the time and our collective resources, we should lend a hand. Bring the Scoobie gang back together for one last hella important case."

"Wallace, I'm not slaying vampires here or taking on an apocalypse. Besides, I work alone."

"Bullshit you do!" Mac exploded. "So I suppose all the times you needed a network hacked, you did that on your own!"

"Yeah, I do seem to remember a handsome, good-looking basketball player who used to steal student files from the attendance office for you, Vee," Wallace laughed, although the hurt was apparent in his voice.

"If we're gonna be Scoobies, I wanna be Shaggy. Frankly, he has the best hair, and I think I look like him," Dick theorized. "We can bring Back-up so we have an actual dog too! And, babe, you're totally Velma. They might have never actually hooked up in the show, but I always thought she was hot. We gotta get you an orange sweater and a kilt."

Veronica exploded, "It's a plaid skirt, and for the love of God, Dick, and it was a _cartoon_! _Nobody _hooked up!"

"I agree with Wallace." Logan said, quietly putting his napkin down. "We all have different ties to this case, and now with Veronica not being able to work the case from inside the school undercover, I think we need to come together to pool our resources."

"So, we're in agreement, then?" Wallace ventured, holding up his shot, looking at each person sitting around the table directly in the eyes before swallowing the shot.

_Oh, step-brother of mine...All the king's horses and all the king's men are _not _going to be able to put this crew right again..._

* * *

After more than three-quarters of the bottle of tequila had been ingested, Wallace showed Mac and Dick up to a guest room where they could stay, and Veronica was left sitting alone across the table from Logan.

He, of course, was fiddling with some invisible thread on his shirt so he didn't have to be the first to break the uncomfortable silence that had fallen around them. Veronica's face was flushed, and although she tried to convince herself it was as a result of the tequila, deep down she was pretty sure it was being around Logan made her hot all over. She sat there idly, wondering how long it would be before Wallace returned. _Seriously, it's a 1500 square foot home. Is he giving tours of closet space?_

"It's a nice night. Doesn't look like we're in for any rain," Logan commented, as though he was carrying on a conversation with his grandmother.

"Seriously? We're that bad off that we have to resort to talking about the weather? Sheesh!" Veronica blasted him.

"Gee, Veronica, what topic did _you _want to broach first? The crazy notion I had that you being here was the start of something between us again? Or, that you have this whole other part of your life that you made no mention of? Or, perhaps you want to chat about how your former boss and boyfriend showed up here on your doorstep _again_? Hey, I know! Maybe we could talk about the fact that he's probably right. You – _we_ – are about to get in over our heads with this case."

"So why are you here?" Veronica sneered, pure venom dripping from her voice. What was it about Logan that always made her blood absolutely boil? No wonder they had driven each other crazy in high school; he was beyond infuriating!

"You know _exactly _why I'm here."

Veronica softened immediately. Lightning flashed in his eyes, but beneath the outrage was fear. He was worried about her, and even if they weren't going to end up together, he was still going to do everything he could to protect her.

"You surprised me today with Matt. The old Logan probably would've pummeled Matt's face into the ground, but you showed a lot of restraint," Veronica ventured, hoping that Logan wouldn't take her observation to mean that she expected him to be jealous in anyway.

Logan leaned forward so far that she could see the flecks in his irises that held an earnest and serious expression. "If he hadn't dropped your arm in about three seconds, you probably would've seen the old Logan," he deadpanned.

"Hey," he said, his sexy smile catching her off-guard, as it was quite a contrast from the serious, smoldering look her had given her just a second before. "You think that swing can support our weight?" he said, nodding at the rickety old porch swing that hung beneath the awning of the back porch.

"I doubt _I_ would snap those chains, but I can't speak for you," Veronica said, smiling. "Shall we?"

"Let's," Logan pronounced, taking her hand.

Not wanting to press her luck, Veronica kept a safe twelve-inch distance from Logan. It was probably better that way, otherwise, he'd hear her heart beating out of her chest.

They sat silently, losing track of time, with the gentle swinging of the seat lulling them into oblivion.

"Why does everything have to be so complicated, Logan?" Veronica asked sleepily but meeting his dark, intense eyes.

"With you, Mars, everything is complicated. I guess I've come to accept that that is just the way it is."

He reached up to run his hand through her hair, and she nestled her head onto his shoulder, as though it was where she'd always been.


	24. Chapter 24

**Thanks to everyone who takes the time to review. Your feedback always makes me think of new directions or things I didn't explain well enough, and I always find it incredibly motivating to write knowing people are enjoying it!**

**Chapter 24**

Veronica felt the warm rays of the morning sun caressing her skin, and there was a sense for one of the first times in her life that all was right with the world. She was lying on her stomach, and when she flipped over the sharp, shockingly white rays nearly blinded her. And that's when she realized she wasn't alone.

"Hey there, little miss sunshine," the voice purred. Veronica felt her blood run cold. She hadn't heard this voice in a very long time, but she recognized it as easily as the melody of her favorite song.

"Lilly? What are you doing here?" Veronica sat up in a panic from the chaise lounge chair she was resting in, and squinted the sun and sleep from her eyes to drink in the curvaceous Lilly Kane, in a tiny magenta bikini, flipping her long blonde locks like she was appearing in a Whitesnake video.

"What do you mean, what am I doing here?! You act like you're not happy to see your best friend!" Lilly pouted.

"No, I am. I'm ecstatic, but you're..."

"Dead?" Lilly supplied.

"Precisely."

"Oh Veronica, don't get caught up on technicalities. I have something I need to tell you. I tried to pass the message on to Jeanette, but she was mincing my words, so I decided I was going to have to make a cameo and 'splain it myself."

Veronica's stomach was doing somersaults. This was no dream; her own subconscious couldn't drum up this kind of materialization of Lilly.

"Veronica, I've never steered you wrong, right? I always looked out for you. I may have gotten caught up in messes of my own and exercised some pretty questionable judgment, but I don't want to see anything happen to you." Lilly zoomed closer in and braced a firm hand on each side of Veronica's shoulders. "You need to watch out. This case is bigger than you realize, and the perp is closer than you think. But you can't see it because he isn't being truthful about who he really is."

"Lilly, stop talking in circles!" Veronica felt her patience dwindling. Lilly always had such a way of drawing out a story, adding her own little dramatic flair to it. "If you know who's behind all this, give me a name!"

"Veronica, I want you to watch out for the _teacher_. He's not who he says he is."

Lilly stood up and walked toward the pool, and only then did Veronica realize that they were in the Kanes' backyard. Lilly, showing off, stepped up onto the diving board, giving her a quick girly wave before she leapt forward from the board and dove gracefully into the crisp blue water, slicing it with her clasped, outstretched hands. The water swallowed her up and then turned a deep shade of crimson.

"Lilly!" Veronica managed, the scream getting caught in her throat, strangling the words.

* * *

"Hey, Veronica! Shhh...It's okay. You're awake now. It was only a nightmare."

Scared to open her eyes, Veronica tentatively took a look around, greeted by the same bright morning sun that had blinded her only moments ago in her dream. But instead of Lilly being beside her, it was Logan. His brown eyes were full of questions and concern.

Veronica bolted upright, and realized that they were still atop the swing. But she had been cocooned under a blanket in his strong arms, which she was now pushing her way out of.

"What time is it?" Veronica asked, unable to keep the alarm out of her voice.

"It's probably around 6:00 in the morning."

_The teacher...Watch out for the teacher._

"Shouldn't you be at work by now?" Veronica asked suspiciously.

"Yeah typically, except today is _Sunday_," Logan said slowly, shaking his head as though her weirdness wasn't all that unexpected.

"What about Jake?" Veronica pressed on.

"He's with Aimee. I called last night and told Aimee I had had a few drinks. She told me that Jake had fallen asleep already and that I should just stay put until I was good to drive. She doesn't mind over-nighters. Her parents are a little strict about having her boyfriend over late hours, and since I know the guy, I don't really mind if he comes over and helps out with the babysitting.

"So how did we end up falling asleep on this swing for nearly eight hours?"

"Ummm, you passed out on my shoulder."

"And you didn't think maybe it might have been a good idea to wake me up?"

"Yeah, actually, now that you mention it, that would've been a swell idea," Logan snapped. "The kink in my neck and the third degree you're giving me make me keenly aware of the fact that it would have been a great idea to wake you up and leave. But, I fell asleep too. You may recall Wallace practically spoon-feeding me tequila shots? He must have been the one who covered us up with a blanket."

Veronica wanted to stop herself from being the bitch she knew she was coming off as, but Lilly's words were ringing through her ears. _The _teacher _is not who he seems. _She had never considered _not _trusting Logan. But when presented with the facts – she hadn't seem him in six years and knew very little about the man he was now, he was a teacher and Lilly had adamantly warned her about the 'teacher', coupled with the fact that he was a product of a highly unstable, abusive, and sociopath father, made her really start to question if she shouldn't keep her distance from him.

"Listen, I better go. I want to get home before Jakey wakes up," Logan said, standing up and stretching out his long limbs. "Let me know what I can do to help out with the _case_," he tossed out casually, but if Veronica was reading his body language and tone right, he was as chilly toward her as he'd been the night he'd found out about Matt. And she knew she deserved it.

"Yeah, ok, will do. See you later."

Logan looked at her, his eyes flashing, and his mouth opened like he was about to say something, but then he stopped, looking resigned, and shook his head ever so slightly.

"Bye, Veronica."

* * *

Veronica made a beeline for the house once Logan had left, straight for the coffee pot. Mac, Dick, and Wallace were sitting around the kitchen table, looking as pale and worn as she felt.

Mac was reading the paper, and Dick was shoveling bacon into his mouth like he had just found out it was fortified in a magnitude of vitamins. Wallace's eyes followed her as she walked from the cupboard to the coffeepot to the fridge and back to the coffeepot.

"Can I help you?" Veronica asked.

Wallace looked at her both quizzically and knowingly.

"I think maybe he's wondering if you and Logan _got it onnnn _last night. Story out on the street is that you guys were K-I-S-S-I-N-G in a tree, or a swing, or something like that."

"Worry about yourself," Veronica pronounced tersely.

"Nah, Ronnie, that's more your bit – egocentric. I, on the other hand, am caring and compassionate Dick. I worry about my boy Logan and the head games you play."

Shit, the Dick had a point there. Logan had every right to diagnose her behavior as bipolar with the way she was running hot and cold. But who the hell could blame her? If it hadn't been a big enough shock to her system seeing her former lover morph into this mature, sweet single-dad, making an honest living, now having the apparition of her deceased best friend and a psychic stranger serve up cryptic messages were just throwing her for a loop.

_I've doubted him before. I thought he killed Lilly, for goodness sakes. I actually served him up on a silver platter to Sheriff Lamb. And I was _wrong_. But then again, he's kept things from me before. _Logan's reluctance to share the details of his alibi for Mercer came to mind.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, Dick," Veronica murmured absently as she brought the steaming coffee mug up to her lips to blow on. "And it's a mistake I can't afford to keep making."

"Hey, Mac, can you help me with something?"

"Yeah, what's up?" Mac asked, a little off-guard, like she wasn't sure she wanted to get involved in whatever Veronica was cooking up.

"Can you call Jeanette Holloway for me? I'd like to get her over to the house, and I think she likes you better than me."

"Sure, Veronica, but I was under the impression you weren't putting a lot of stock into what she had to say."

"Are we talking about the psychic, here?" Wallace asked, trying to catch himself up to speed.

"Oh my God! Amazeballs! I wanna ask her about-"

"Dick, if you have personal questions, you're gonna need to dial a psychic hotline. But not from my dad's phone. This is case-related."

"What are we angling to do?" Wallace asked, still a little shocked, as this was definitely not a VMars tactic in crime-solving.

"Jeanette claims that Nieliz Robles is dead and doesn't know it. I want to communicate with her, if possible."

"Hold up! We're having ourselves a séance?" Wallace asked incredulously.

"What made you change your mind about Jeanette?" Mac asked softly.

"I guess it's the only place to really start. We need to know more about who and what we're dealing with. We need to know if we're still looking for the girls, or if we're chasing down bodies and a serial killer. I may not be a full-on believer in the whole realm of psychic powers, but I know the FBI has worked with psychics in the past. It's not our typically route for solving a case, but Jeanette didn't come to us; we sought her out. She has nothing to gain from all this, so I guess it's worth a shot." Veronica left out the fact that the vivid dream she had woken up from less than an hour prior had confirmed a source of danger that Jeanette had also alluded to –_ Logan. _

"Okay," Mac agreed. "I'll call her this afternoon and see how soon she can meet with us."

"And, I'll round up the troops," Wallace offered.

"We want to be called the 'Scoobies'," Dick reminded him. "And I'm still Shaggy, okay?"

"No, wait!" Veronica injected over the lunacy that Dick was about unleash on the conversation. "Just us four and Jeanette, okay?"

Wallace and Mac's questions and protests overlapped one another, and confusion was clearly written all over their faces.

"It's just that, I am still a little skeptical, and I know that Logan would be too. I don't want too much negativity to throw off Jeanette's juju."

"I say we go for it. And if she can't help us solve the case, maybe she'll lead us to a buried treasure!"

_Dick, the voice of reason and a spring of eternal, yet boneheaded optimism._


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

Veronica lowered herself deeper into the nearly horizontal seat of her father's Suburban, as she watched Logan with Jake at a soccer game through binoculars. She had tirelessly followed Logan for three days, and aside from taking Jake for fast food for dinner two nights in a row, Logan had done even nothing remotely criminal.

She knew she was jumping to conclusions, everything she had been trained not to do as an objective federal agent, based on tip-offs from her own subconscious and a would-be psychic. It didn't exactly help that she wasn't sure whether she was tailing him to prove his innocence to herself, catch him a felony act, or just stalk him out of lusty curiosity. And speaking of lusty curiosity, covert ops on Logan had its perks. Right now, in his tight grey Pan High t-shirt and forest green track pants, it wouldn't take a telescopic lens to note that he clearly didn't miss a day at the gym. _Down, girl. His well-toned arms don't rule him out as a person of interest...for the case, that is...not your love life, or lack there of._

Something didn't feel right to her. She had been in this place before, and it pained her to know that she still just as confused as she'd been nearly ten years ago – she loved Logan to the point of obsession, but something within her didn't allow herself to trust him one hundred percent, and it was downright unsettling.

There were more than fifty teachers on staff at Pan High. But those teachers likely used their given surnames, not aliases. Those teachers would have been subject to background checks that might have turned up traffic tickets or petty crimes committed in their invincible adolescent years. Logan had a rap sheet a mile long and a nasty little genetic secret. How did he manage to even get an interview, let alone a job? Could Logan really have a different agenda – and not the 'person he appears to be' as Lilly had alluded?

Saying Veronica had a hard time trusting people was kind of like saying Charles Manson was just a little screwed up. She had had so many letdowns in her life; more people than she cared to admit had completely betrayed her or misrepresented themselves, starting with her very own mother. But Veronica decided as she studied Logan sprinting down the field, waving his hands like a crazy soccer dad, his eyes intently following Jake down the field, that although Lilly's cryptic message was a piece to the puzzle, she just wasn't interpreting how it fit into the bigger picture properly yet. She had a feeling if she studied all the pieces closely enough, maybe with the help of her friends and Jeanette, she would figure out what Lilly was really trying to say.

Veronica smiled to herself. Jake had scored a goal. _Way to go, little guy! _

The victory dance and proud papa smile from Logan was short-lived. Logan's face contorted, and his eyes turned to two cold, dark holes. _Shit, did the ref just overturn the goal? Is there a penalty on Jakey? Hold it together, Logan. Don't get yourself ejected for unsportsmanlike behavior as a spectator._

Then Veronica realized that his eyes had forgotten the nail-biting game that was unfolding around him...because they were trained almost instinctively on her.

Veronica tossed the binoculars onto the seat next to her and practically crawled beneath the dashboard, hoping that she was having another bout of overactive imagination. _Damn, Dad, these windows are tinted, right? _

Veronica watched in horror as two knuckles wrapped hard on the drivers side window. Veronica, knowing there was no way out but the truth pressed the tiny button to bring the window down.

"What the _fuck _do you think you're doing?" Logan practically hissed.

_Thank God he doesn't have a crowbar. We all know the kind of hurting he can put on a headlight, and I doubt Weevil is going to spring out of the bushes right now. And, the truth is, Logan would be less of a psychotic jackass and more along the lines of a totally justified father if he did just that._

"Logan," Veronica started, her voice cracking with remorse.

"Stop, just fucking stop right now. I think I've heard enough of your lame excuses to last me three lifetimes. I have your number, Veronica. I know what you are and what you're doing. It's called a stake-out, and in case you've forgotten, I used to keep you company on quite a few of those long, dark, lonely nights when you were waiting for the pay-off of the highly-elusive money shot. But, _me_? _Seriously_? At my kid's _soccer_ game? What the fuck are you _thinking?"_

Logan's irate musings paused for one brief second before it connected; this case of peeping-tom was for business not pleasure.

_"_Wait, tell me you don't actually think _I _might have something to do with the disappearances of these missing girls? Under-aged girls, some of whom were my _students_?" Logan looked like he'd been kicked hard in the gut, but stopped pacing in wide circles, running both hands through his hair long enough to retreat to her window and hiss, "I could see ten years ago it looking bad with Lilly. You thought I was jealous. I came back from Mexico early and got Beav and Dick to give me a false alibi. I could even see if you didn't believe that I had nothing to do with Felix's death. I wasn't exactly sitting around singing kum-bah-yah with the PCHers. But _this_? This is un-_fucking_-believable." The rage that was emanating from Logan was of Duncan-like proportions, post-med flushing, after being accused of murdering her own sister.

"Please, Logan, let me explain. There's more that-"

But her pleas sounded pathetic even to her own ears. People were starting to gather in small crowds, necks were craned and ears were perked, eager for the punch that domestic drama packed that a three-year old soccer league's game didn't.

"Why is it that every girl I care about is so quick to assume the absolute worst about me? You really don't know me at all, and frankly, after this, I don't want to know a fucking thing about you either!"

"Daddy? Daddy, is that Ronnie?" Jake, sweaty and out of breath from running over but with the little cherubic face of an angel, was looking up at his father and Veronica uncertainly.

"Jake, come on, we're going back to your game," Logan said quickly while scooping up his son, but Veronica noticed that his voice was shaking, trying to tame the beast that had risen up inside of him. "Ronnie is not a good lady, and we're not going to be seeing her again." Without even a glance back, Logan and Jake departed. Veronica watched as their silhouettes became smaller and smaller before she hesitantly started the engine and threw the Suburban into reverse.

* * *

A day later on Thursday evening, five eerily quiet people sat in a circle around a dining room table adorned with a deep red tablecloth and several flickering white candles. The lights were dimmed, shades were drawn, and a laptop opened to a blank Microsoft Word Document sat opened on the table.

No one was yet sitting; everyone had the cautious stance of knees bent, fingertips resting on the back of the chairs, eyes wide, looking poised to jump into action and sprint from the room at the slightest sound.

"Is there anything else we're going to need here to do this?" Wallace asked.

"Um, I don't know...I think this should be good. I read on the Internet a lot of different information about what makes these types of things successful, but I guess the main thing is havin' a round table, a few people around it, and some dim lighting.

"I thought you said she was a professional, Vee," Wallace intimated quietly.

"Yeah, if we wanted a phony Miss Cleo we might have tried the Psychic Friends Hotline?" Dick stage whispered to Wallace.

"Gee, Dick, she doesn't have to even be psychic to read your mind. But maybe you could try holding your thoughts in? Make it a little more of a challenge for her?" Veronica spat out.

Jeanette's gaze nervously flitted back and forth between Veronica and Mac. "I've never done this before in front of a crowd. I'm a little nervous. I smoked a joint before I came just to mellow myself out."

_Great, so if the dead start communicating that they want a bag of Doritos and some Twinkies, we'll know that it's just our burn-out psychic hallucinating and experiencing the munchies. Fan-fucking-tastic._

"Relax, Jeanette. I am not going into this with the highest of hopes. I just figured it was worth a shot. Just tell us what you want us to do."

"I'm going to sit in front of the laptop," Jeanette said, gesturing to the beaconing light of Mac's Mac. "I am going to reach out to Nieliz's spirit. If she comes through, ask the questions you want to know. I'll type the responses and we'll go from there. Don't expect to ask a million questions or to even have the time to read responses as they come through. Spirits sense of time is different from our own and they bore easily, so they don't like to be kept waiting. And please," Jeanette broke off, looking pained. "Please make sure that if you do make contact, you let her know that she is no longer with us. If she'd not at peace, her family never will be either," Jeanette warned ominously.

"Are we going to have a safe word?" Dick asked. "You know, if shit gets too creepy and your head starts doing a 360 on your neck, Exorcist-style?"

Jeanette paled visibly.

"It's okay, I'll just close the laptop if it gets too intense," Mac offered, but her logic did little to lighten the tense mood.

"All right, let's commence with the ghost whispering," Wallace murmured, rubbing his hands together.

As everyone took their seats, Dick went to grab Wallace's hand under the table.

"Man, what the hell are you _doin_'?"

"Haven't you ever seen in the movies how a séance is done? We're supposed to hold hands and chant something. Give me your hand, dude."

"Hell nah, brah. Chill with that shit and follow the script."

Jeanette began tentatively. "Hello, we are trying to communicate with Nieliz Robles. Nieliz, if you can hear me, please give us a sign that you're in the room with us. Nieliz?" The quiet cajoling went on for a few minutes, which was the only sound in the room because everyone was holding their breath and trying not to make eye contact with one another, for fear of the middle school giggles. "Excuse me, but Veronica, I don't think this is working. Is there another person you'd like me to reach out to? Perhaps one of the other-"

Jeanette's abrupt silence was marked by a ten degree drop in temperature in the room. She was no longer speaking or looking anxious; her mouth was slack, and her eyes were fixated on a patch of blank wall space over Veronica's left shoulder.

For all the quips in the world, Veronica couldn't wrestle one out of her mouth. Wallace and Dick were equally as speechless, so Mac took the initiative.

"Nieliz, are you here with us?

Slow deliberate movements of clumsy, shaky fingers plucked out three letters across the keyboard: Y-E-S.

"Nieliz, thank you for coming. We are happy to have you here with us. I'm Mac, and I'm here with Veronica, Dick, and Wallace. We wanted to ask you some questions. Is that okay?"

There was no movement from Jeanette, so Mac worked under the assumption that the previous answer still held.

"Nieliz, before Thanksgiving, you left PanHigh School and no one has heard from you since. People are worried for you. We believe you left against your will, that you were kidnapped. Is that true?

Again, there was no movement, and Veronica began to get worried that the fluke of the first answer was just the result of Jeanette being stoned.

"I think we need to ask her more than just yes or no questions," Veronica whispered under breath to Mac. "Do you mind if I try?"

Mac shook her head and with her eyes urged Veronica to proceed.

"Nieliz, this is Veronica. I have a question for you. What can you tell us about the day you went missing, particularly about who you were with? Nieliz, was he, or _she_," she added, trying to safeguard against the presumptions she had been making of late, "a teacher at Pan High?"

Confusion registered on the faces of everyone around her, aside from Jeanette's which was impassive. Yet, Jeanette's fingers assaulted the keyboard in rapid succession, so quickly that Veronica's eyes couldn't keep up with the tiny font that was appearing before her eyes. When she had finally stopped, she inched closer to peer over Jeanette's shoulder to find there was a quarter of a page of the document full.

"Keep going," Mac urged, "We can read it all more carefully after. Jeanette said when she was on a roll, it was better to keep the lines of communication open rather than to stop to read what's she's typed."

"Nieliz, where did he or she take you?"

Again, the typing commenced, and when Veronica looked up she was greeted by the positively white face of Wallace and the flabbergasted face of Dick, who looked like he was either shitting himself or experiencing an orgasm.

Veronica knew that if she had been reading along what Jeanette had transcribed, she could hone her questioning to have more precision, but this wasn't the typical witness that she could browbeat under hot, unforgiving lights in an interrogation room. She choose her next words carefully, as she knew that it would likely draw an end to discussion with the only person who might be able to shed an ounce of light on the kidnappings.

"Nieliz, six girls total have gone missing from Pan High, including Ophelia Navarro. We're able to communicate with you because you are no longer with us, in human flesh. In order for your spirit to be free, you need to accept that you are no longer walking the earth but allowing your soul to wander it. It's imperative that you know that your family and your community never gave up hope looking for you. And I promise with all my heart that I will put a stop to whoever hurt you if you please, please tell me everything you can that will help me put this sick fuck away for the rest of his or her life," Veronica's voice cracked, but she asked the last question for Weevil as much as she did for herself to assist the investigation. "Have you had any contact with any of these girls since your disappearance? And are you still in contact now?"

There was a hesitation before Jeanette typed out Nieliz's final response. _Thank you, Nieliz, wherever you are now, thank you, _Veronica added silently. _And please, dear God let this information lead us to something useful that helps us to bring these girls back home, if that's still within the realm of possibilities. _

"Nieliz?" They were greeted with silence. "Jeanette?" Mac asked tentatively of the woman whose eyes were still trained on the same spot on the wall that she had been staring at for nearly thirty minutes. Jeanette blinked a few times, and then her eyes refocused on the group of people sitting around her. She looked like an amnesiac patient from person to person before her eyes came to rest on Veronica, and then tiny, dim light bulb seemed to go off.

"Did it work?" she asked breathlessly, and then glancing at the computer, "Oh shit, looks like it."

Mac scooped up the computer. "Let me make hard copies so we don't have to all crane our necks to look at the screen, and we can make some notes in the margin if needed."

Veronica smiled in spite of herself, thinking about how great an asset Mac was, reminiscing about the long-forgotten days of sleuthing at Neptune High – _"I do the gadgets; you do the espionage" _still rang true of their newly forged partnership.

"Here, kids," she said, dropping a copy in front of each of them, "Read up."

* * *

**What can you tell us about the day you went missing, particularly about who you were with? Nieliz, was he or she a teacher at Pan High?"**

I am angry that I was asked to stay, but it is part of my obligation to serve others. And so I want to go home and help my mother prepare for tomorrow's dinner, but I stay to fulfill my duties. I say that I can stay just one hour because I have to walk to the bus terminal to catch the 4:45, and it is a little ways from school.

He sneers when he sees me. He doesn't want my help any more than I want to give it, but the teacher brokered the deal. I do not realize at this time the deal brokered was my life as I had known it thus far.

But when the hour is up, I pack my things and leave without the thank you that I don't expect. I am happy all the same because the time has passed and I am going home. And I think to myself I will request not to do this again because I have my own future to worry about. I don't know at the time that my future is not what I carefully laid out, many years in the making.

I walk through the doors down the small concrete steps and see that he's waited for me. He asks me if I need a ride, and I think of the impropriety of it all. But I accept. Because I trust so readily and am eager to get home. But I was wrong. I put my seatbelt on for safety. To ease the foreboding feeling in my gut. But it is too late. It is not safe at all.

**Nieliz, where did he or she take you?**

I am awake but I am not in the car. I am in a room. I think it's the hospital because it's so white and sterile and windowless. I know that it is all wrong. I am on a bed. I am in my clothes but they are torn and smell of sweat and fear. I know that I am no longer me. I have a new identity, or no identity, and I am scared. I don't know the day or the hour. It's impossible to know. I only count the number of sandwiches I am fed to guess that more than a few days have passed.

Finally I am taken out of captivity. But it's not _him_. This man is a stranger without an ounce of humanity. I can't even plead with him; he doesn't talk. He throws me into the back of a truck and it's dark. I am scared to look but force myself. I see highway markers and gravel kick up from the tires from the very small window but I can't guess where we are, where we're going. There are many large trucks. I try to look at the signs, but suddenly his hand is on the nape of my neck. I fear he might snap it on the spot for some wrong I am not aware I committed, but instead I am pulled by my hair from where I cower in the truck bed. His hand, large as my whole head, grips my neck, forcing my face down to peer at my feet. I think there is an exchange with another deep voice, but I can't make out what is said. Maybe I just don't want to.

There is a man who calls me Mary. Another calls me Baby. They are all the same. Conversational but only for moments until they become greedy. They talk to me but I can't force words past my lips because it smells of sweat, cigarettes, and days old fast food. I cry and confess my sins to God right out loud, but they get mad and hit me until I stop. Sometimes they just laugh. When it stops, I want to shower, wash my face, brush my teeth. But then I stop wanting that. I want the filth to collect on my body so they just leave me be.

And then it goes too far. And I think maybe there is a God, and he has the smallest amount of mercy on me. Because it stops.

**Have you had any contact with any of these girls since your disappearance? And are you still in contact now?**

There is no contact. I am completely alone. And you say I am gone. I pray for their sake, they are too.

* * *

In the time that elapsed, they all could have read the transcriptions ten times over, but the silence was palpable. No one moved, no one breathed. Dick was the first to break the silence, and for once Veronica welcomed it.

"I can't do this. I'm sorry, but I think I am going to bed." He rose from the table to face Mac, and something in his eyes hoped against hope that she was feeling the same sentiment and planned to join him.

When Mac made no such move, he crouched down to meet her face, and the empathy in his face made Veronica wonder if it was even Dick, he looked so foreign to her. He kissed Mac chastely on the lips and then the forehead, trying to erase the pain in her eyes.

"Dick, can I get you anything? A movie? Some tea? I have a nightlight upstairs if you need it." Veronica wasn't trying to be facetious, but he glared at her all the same. "Thanks, Ronnie, but I was rather hoping Mac would be joining me."

Veronica shut up, good intentions tossed aside to make way for Dick's pride.

"Sorry, Vee, but I'm with him. I thought I might be needed for some file-snatching...Or to go undercover as an overzealous senior who planned to major in math to bring down some college thugs running a Nigerian money scam...Maybe some errand-running. But this just ain't settling right with me either," Wallace admitted. He stood and put a hand on Dick's shoulder. They left the room without another word.

Jeanette was the next to speak. "Sorry, Veronica. I thought that this would give you more to go on. I guess I should have expected so much. A lot of what comes through from spirits can be hard to interpret."

Veronica was still reeling from what she'd learned. "It's fine, Jeanette. There's plenty to follow up on. This student she mentions," Veronica mused, "It appears Nieliz was tutoring someone before she left Pan. That student could have been the last one to see Nieliz alive. That student could _definitely _have something to do with her disappearance. Someone on that faculty knows more than they're letting on, if a teacher set up the tutoring session. I wish Nieliz had more specific with names or descriptions, but it confirms some of what we believed initially. Matt was clearly correct to suspect that these disappearances are related to human trafficking. It sounds like Nieliz went through something absolutely horrific."

"I'm not sure whether to feel heartbroken she is dead, or relief," Mac finally spoke. "I guess though that it means that we are still looking for the other girls, through, right?"

"I'd imagine that if they were gone and had suffered the same horrors that she did, she would have connected with them by now," Jeanette agreed.

Although the contact with Nieliz was cryptic at best, Veronica was unsure whether to feel grateful that she had more insight into the case or to let the somber cloud surrounding her envelope her completely.

"I think I should go. If I can be of any help..." Jeanette let the offer hang weakly. It was abundantly clear that she hoped that she would never see Veronica or her friends ever again.

"I'll walk you out," Veronica offered.

When she returned, Mac was nursing a Bud Light she had found hanging on for dear life at the back of Veronica's father's fridge, and there was one waiting for Veronica as well.

"What's next?" Mac asked, after pouring half the beer down her throat, in a very-_un_-Mac like manner. In two year of high school and another year of college, Veronica never knew that Mac had the honed the talent of being able to completely open her throat to deposit that much alcohol in her at one time. _Must be Dick's influence. _But Veronica knew she had misjudged the "softer side" of Dick Casablancas grossly.

"Is it okay with you that for tonight, I just don't know?"

"Yeah, I promise not to lose any respect for our fearless leader. But, I think it's high time I get myself to bed. I have a cute blonde waiting upstairs, and something tells me, I am in for a sleepless night."

"Goodnight, Q," Veronica said, opening the beer and saluting Mac with it.

"Yeah, night, Bond," Mac responded, setting her empty bottle on the table. "Get some rest. I think we're in for a rocky ride."

* * *

Somewhere between the eleven o'clock news and the semi-conscious thoughts of the impending but very much welcomed return of her father and Alicia the next morning, Veronica woke to the light tapping on the door of the front porch.

Veronica glanced at the clock on the microwave, with a sense of déjà vu washing over her. She'd been awoken once before after a high stress evening of being shot at and trapped in a freezer by her boyfriend's sociopathic father to a shadowy figure on her porch, and dimly wondered if fate would repeat itself again in the same manner.

"Veronica, hey."

She was greeted the well-built figure of... eighteen tattoos and a bald head.

"Weevil," she announced, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Sorry, I know it's late."

"Nah, it's never too late for my favorite motorcycle-riding, gang-leading friend slash foe. What's up?"

"My niece wanted me to bring you this," Weevil said, handing her a massive envelope.

Gamely, Veronica pulled the embossed invitation from the crisp white envelope.

The Senior Class of  
Pan High School  
cordially invites you to  
"A Night of Dreams and Promises"

Senior Prom  
on Saturday, May 12th, 2013  
at seven o'clock  
in the evening  
at the Neptune Grand Ballroom

Rendering speechless for the second time that night, Veronica looked up quizzically at Weevil whose face was slowing morphing into his easy-going trademark smirk.

"I know it's not your signature style – private party catering only the most elite of Neptune's high society. But, it _is _at the Neptune Grand."

"Oh I'll be there, Weevil. This is going to be a _bitchin'_ party, and I'll be there with _bells _on, my friend."

**This was a long, uncomfortable chapter to write, but since I committed to creating a case, I am trying to follow through with that and needed to set some groundwork. I am really psyched for the next chapter, which I have had in my head since conception of this story. **


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

Veronica rolled her deeply fatigued body over and looked at the small digital alarm clock on the right side of her for what felt like the fifteenth time since she'd crawled into bed. The clock read 7:37 in angry, bold, screaming red lights. She had half expected Lilly to visit her again in her dreams, but REM never came.

Every time she had closed her eyes, it was like watching a cheesy horror flick just as the next target was about to be picked off, and try though she may, she couldn't rewrite the script. Her mind's eye kept replaying the scene that had happened with Logan. If she was looking to start over with him as a mature adult, she'd completely blown it when she surveilled him. She forced herself to push the epic error in judgment out of her mind and replace it with something equally frustrating but something she hoped she exercised at least a little more influence over – wrestling with the case of the missing girls.

Who had Nieliz met with after school that day? She had spoken about duties and obligations, and from what Veronica had gathered about Nieliz, it seemed likely that a student as driven and intelligent as she was could have peer-tutored, perhaps, even as a service requirement of the National Honor Society or as a volunteer act she did to set herself apart in hopes of getting a scholarship to college.

But who was this mystery student? From the extensive reading of the files prepared by the FBI, Veronica recalled no mention of Nieliz having a scheduled tutoring responsibility or any other extracurricular activity. And more importantly, who was the teacher who had "brokered the deal", as Nieliz had intimated in Jeanette's transcriptions.

Veronica retrieved the printout of the Jeanette's automatic typing that was folded up on her desk, grabbed a clipboard, and headed out to the porch swing, as the bed was only reminding her of her lack of adequate rest and utter exhaustion.

Veronica read and reread the puzzling words she had already scrutinized for hours the night before. _Nieliz really isn't clear about who is waiting for her and subsequently offers her the ride. She only mentions the _impropriety_ of it all. It leads me to assume it's a teacher, especially because of the obscure message from Lilly. But, _Veronica considered thoughtfully,_ nearly a decade ago, impropriety might have been an apt descriptor for Logan's and my relationship – an 09er and an ill-reputed outcast. _Thoughts of keeping up the façade of their mutual abhorrence, making out in deceivingly labeled 'out of order' bathrooms, and being caught playing tonsil hockey in front of the entire 09er population at Logan's "Surprise, it's _not _actually your birthday" surprise birthday party danced through her head. _Could impropriety refer to an illicit relationship with another student who was out of Nieliz's social strata?_

Veronica tried to run through all of the pieces of the puzzle, and although it seemed like she had some haphazard directions, she still felt no closer to cracking this case wide open. She longed for the resources that the FBI would have put at her fingertips, but if Veronica was anything, it was resourceful. She put together what she figured would be the hazy-at-best profile for the perp: male, possible student, possible faculty member. Someone who drove. Someone who may have required tutoring services or at least posed as needing assistance, or, someone who would have the authority to set up a tutoring session. Someone who was definitely in debt and big. Money had to be the main motivation if this person was the culprit for nabbing the victims but not transporting them after they had been kidnapped. Veronica quickly tried to formulate a plan in her head: 1) have Mac hack the school's database and see what she could dig up regarding student grades, disciplinary files on both teachers and students, and peer tutoring organizations. The short list stopped there as the invitation to the Pan High prom came back into focus.

_How do I show up to a prom when I have completely and irreparably have blown my cover? _Veronica knew it was pretty much inevitable that Logan would be chaperoning the dance as a faculty members often do. The look in his eyes just a day ago suggested he was more than likely to throw her out on her ass, official invitation or not. A familiar voice broke through her musings.

"Alicia, call the law. We've got a petite, blonde intruder wearing out our porch swing!"

His voice enveloped her like a strong embrace, and she knew whatever fears she had about the case, her love life, a zombie apocalypse, were all at ease now.

"Hey kid, it's been too long since I've had you on this coast," Keith said, as he dropped his luggage and embraced her with the most genuine hug she had received since her return to Neptune. As she pulled back she noticed how relaxed her father looked. In this straw fedora and blue and orange Hawaiian shirt with the top button undone, Keith looked younger than he had when she was in high school.

"I'm so happy you're home. Why didn't you call? I would have picked you guys up from the airport."

"You and I don't have such good luck with airports, kid. Hey, I got you something," Keith said mysteriously, his eyes wide and wild with excitement, as he shook his carry on bag from side to side like it was a maraca.

"A pony?" cried Veronica, loving how with her dad it was so easy to fall back into their witty banter even after years of living on opposite coasts.

"Even better!" Keith confirmed.

"I'm pretty sure a water bed wouldn't fit in that bag, and you already fulfilled that teenage dream, so I'm thinkin' fancy hotel soap."

"I know your infatuation with all things free and fragrant, but no...Ok, we could be here all day with these guesses," Keith said while rifling through his bag. "Man, that FBI is sucking all the detective prowess right out of you."

_Oh Dad, if you only knew. _"Funny you should say that-"

"Ta-daaahhh!" Keith proclaimed theatrically and then handed her a delicately-made puka shell necklace, so opalescent it looked as though the shells had been manufactured rather than collected by hand.

Veronica's crestfallen expression didn't match the look of exuberance that Keith clearly expected her to have. _He couldn't have remembered that Logan wore a puka shell necklace like it was a surgically-attached appendage, and he has no idea the mess I've made of my love life since I returned to Neptune, so put on a happy face and say thank you, Mars, _Veronica willed herself silently.

But Keith had an uncanny knack for reading just what Veronica was thinking, and studied her face carefully. "You don't like it. I knew I should have gotten the shot glass that read 'Lei this', but I don't really like to endorse..._drinking_."

Veronica stifled a laugh, realizing just how much she had missed her father and his quirky sense of humor. She wondered how well his good nature would hold up when she broke the news to him that she had quit her job at the FBI. She ranked the conversation she was about to have right up there with the time her father had found out via courtroom testimony that she had contracted Chlamydia.

"No, Dad. I love it. I _really_ love it. In fact, I am going to wear it tomorrow night to the prom."

Keith stared at her for a few minutes before taking both her hands in his and looking her squarely in the eye with the most serious of expressions. "I hate to break this to you, kid, but that ship has sailed. You're twenty-five years old."

"I have _a lot _to fill you in on, Dad. Maybe we should go in?" Veronica ventured, her face suddenly belying tension that was wreaking havoc on her innards.

"I'll have Alicia put the coffee on," Keith offered more as a question than a statement, mentally preparing himself for the bomb he knew all too well his daughter was about to drop.

* * *

Nearly thirty-six hours had passed, and Veronica had barricaded herself in the guest bedroom she had claimed days before, aside from short trips to the bathroom for relief and the kitchen for sustenance. The "talk" she'd had with her dad the day before had drained her both physically and mentally, and she was beginning to feel like a vampire, sleeping most of Friday afternoon and evening away and then was up like an insomniac throughout the entire night.

Keith had always been the biggest supporter of Veronica's choices, albeit reckless as they sometimes were. Even through her teenage years he'd always treated her with the respect of an equal, but yesterday, to say that he was disappointed with her decision to leave the FBI was a severe underestimation. And the massive "holes" in Veronica's explanation certainly didn't help matters.

Veronica knew where Keith stood when it came to Logan Echolls. There were some memories, like Logan calling Keith "dude", stealing state evidence, or smashing a beloved lamp to pieces in their living room, that couldn't be easily erased from one's memory, despite some otherwise noble behavior. So, she had artfully but not quite convincing left a good portion of the story that led up to her resignation out where it concerned Logan. Keith was no fool, and his frank questioning about her impulsivity was definitely fair. She had certainly not been planning with the end in mind, and when he had asked her what she planned to do after her casework in Neptune, she drew a blank.

_"Veronica, what were you thinking? _Were _you even thinking? Can you talk to your superiors? Let them know that you made a rash decision because of a personal conflict with the case? I don't care what your team lead says; they would reassign you before losing an asset like yourself. I'm sure of it."_

_ "Dad, I know I haven't quite figured out what my next step is, but that doesn't mean I made a mistake. I am a PI at heart, and I think that my track record shows, I could make a decent living doing detective work on my own. I would think that out of anyone in my life, _you _would understand that."_

_ Keith shook his head and sighed. He took a long look at her before responding. "You have no idea how my life turned upside down when I went from being sheriff to being in business for myself. I nearly lost everything, and I just _barely_ kept it together because I knew I had a daughter who was relying on me to put food on the table and squirrel away enough money to send her to college so she could get the hell out of here. And I thought that you had enough sense to know that this was never the path I would want to see you go down. You were handpicked by your college professors and were given the opportunity of a lifetime in the FBI. Because they saw _potential_ in you. Potential I could only have dreamed of having. Veronica, I think you need to take a long, hard look at the choices you've made." Keith finally broke off to take a breath and turned his face from her view. He sat for a moment, and then abruptly got up and retreated across the room before he muttered without looking at her, "Think about it," and then left._

Feeling splintered, like a fragmented version of her former strong-willed self, Veronica sat Saturday afternoon, wallowing in a pity party that she had never in her life succumbed to, watching a day long marathon of mindless reality television. Oh how she longed for the days of a quick cry in a hot shower before bouncing back to her spunky demeanor.

There was a tentative tap on her door before Mac tiptoed into the dark room. She crossed the room and sat down on the bed behind Veronica.

"Aren't you running a little late for the pre-prom primping?"

Veronica shrugged, not bothering to remove her eyes from the TV.

"You _are_ going, right?"

"Not sure if it's really the best idea."

"It is if you're going to follow through with this case," Mac retorted. "And considering the amount of time and energy we've all invested here, I would hope that's what you intend to do rather than sitting around collecting dust."

"What's going on out there?" Veronica said flatly, eyes still glued to the Kardashians that were prancing across her flat screen.

"Your dad's been about as vocal as a mime. Alicia and Wallace are on a conference call with Darryl, setting up plans to move him back from USC for the summer, and Dick is trying to get in touch with his psychic side by shaking Scrabble Cheez-Its from the box, hoping it will spell out something meaningful to the case. And you're missing all the action sitting in here. What gives?"

"Oh, things are just a little _too_ intense right now, Mac. I have had a firsthand encounter with what happens when people stop being polite...and start getting real..."

"Okay, so we're gonna go ahead and turn this off," Mac announced grabbing the remote.

"Be honest with me, Mac," Veronica started, turning to face her former best friend. "How badly have I made a mess of things? Wait, you can't even answer that because you don't know all of the truly moronic things I have done in the past forty-eight hours, let alone the past week and a half," Veronica said, her face collapsing into her open palms.

"You're right. I don't. But, I _do _know that you would be making an even bigger mistake if you walked away from this case. Ophelia Navarro doesn't have a prayer if she doesn't have Veronica Mars looking for her. So, I want you to snap out of whatever funk you've worked yourself into and go out there and show the world that you don't need a fancy team of agents to find those missing girls. You've got this, Mars. And we've got you."

Veronica half expected the rousing pep talk Mac had offered to be followed by a sharp slap on the ass, like a coach sending his quarterback out onto the field after a brutal first-half slaughtering. But instead Mac smiled sweetly at her and offered to do her hair for the dance.

"Blue streaks or red?"

"I don't even have a dress, Mac. I'll stick out like a sore thumb, which will get me thrown out of there before I can even make it past the lobby."

"Not according to Alicia...She said that your Alterna-Prom dress is hanging in the back of one of these closets..."

**Hoping for not too many typos, as it is a rather late work night for me and I was dying to get this chapter finally posted. Hoping for a quicker update with the next chapter as I have put in my 2 weeks notice at work and will have a two-week gap before my new career adventure begins!**


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